Yesterday the Kindle Spring Reading Challenge officially came to a close, and now Amazon has already rolled out a new Summer Reading Challenge.
The “Epic Summer Challenge” runs from July 1st through September 30th, and there are 15 different achievements that can be unlocked.
It looks like a lot of the achievements are repeats from the Spring Challenge so that’s kind of lame; they could’ve been a bit more creative. There are achievements for Days Read and Books Completed and Streaks, and there are six Mystery achievements that will be unlocked on certain dates.
Unfortunately you don’t actually get anything for completing the various tasks and unlocking achievements, just bragging rights (and the dopamine rush for completing tasks). I miss the original Kindle Challenge where you could earn a $5 ebook credit for unlocking a certain number of achievements—too bad they didn’t bring that back.
Once again you have to use a Kindle app for Android or iOS to see the Reading Challenge achievements that are located in the More tab under Reading Insights. Unfortunately they don’t show the challenge or achievements on Kindle ereaders (apparently they can’t find anywhere to put it amid all the advertisements on the new homescreen), but you can still use Kindles to unlock achievements.
These challenges appear to be limited to US accounts so it won’t be available to everyone everywhere.
What do you think of Amazon doing these reading challenges lately? Did you partake in the Spring Challenge? I kind of like the idea of reading challenges but I wish Amazon would make them a bit more interesting and creative, and I wish they’d stop excluding Kindles from showing these challenges—like it’s really that difficult to show static images of achievements on a Kindle too.
Landing page at Amazon: Kindle Epic Summer Challenge
I like the Kindle challenges. They really push me to read more. I completed the 16 achievements in the Spring Challenge ahead of schedule. I plan to complete the Summer Challenge too. Yes, a bit lame but fun for me nonetheless.
Can’t be bothered. I’m gonna read what I”m gonna read, how I’m gonna read it, Kindle or Kobo. And since reading on Kobo is more comfy, this just has no particular appeal for me. If they had a book credit to be earned, maybe. But I don’t need to be pushed to read more, reading a little less might actually be healthier for me, LOL!
However, it’s not a bad thing for Amazon to do, and it might be the little kick that gets someone motivated and becoming a regular reader for life!
When I was a kid, my library used to do summer reading challenges. You had to not only read, but read books of certain genres or topics. So you couldn’t just cruise through nothing but fiction, but also had to explore various sorts of non-fiction. And even in the fiction, you had to hunt for different sorts of fiction. It was a good thing, and got me reading more widely than I might have done otherwise.
So even though this challenge has no appeal for me personally, well done, Amazon!
I’m in agreement that they ought to show people the challenges/achievements on their Kindle devices though. Shouldn’t be that hard and if they did that, I expect they’d get more participation and reach more people.
I’m still rereading books I got thru scholastic as a child. Was the one area my Mom let me splurge. Most kids ordered nothing, I usually had 2 or 3everytime. I loved delivery day. Keep on reading what you enjoy and love (d)
Cannot understand why these are region locked and not worldwide. Certainly cannot access these in the UK!
Since I read non-stop, any reading challenge is wasted on me. And if they want me to read different genres, not happening. I’ve read since I was 4,and at age 65, I know what I don’t like, just like I know what foods I don’t like.
I hear that! I guess I didn’t read on my own officially until first grade, but other than that, I’m right behind you. I can remember carting home stacks of library books, as my grandmother let me use her card in addition to my own so I could check out double. Then I’d get home, commence reading, usually have a couple books finished by dinner.
But as mentioned, I did do the different genre thing for our library reading challenge as a kid, and overall, it was a good experience. But once one is 60+, one just wants to read what one wants to read, when one wants to read it and on the device one wants to read it on.
I’m not into romance, unless humorous, even then, I read that genre rarely. Mysteries, on the other hand, I consume like wildfire does trees and grass! I grew up on mysteries!
I delve into sci-fi fairly frequently, some fantasy. I like stories of historical exploration. Love classics and will happily read those sprinkled here and there. Enjoy animal stories, so those are in the mix as well.
My take is just keep reading everyone! And have fun with it!
It’s all good whether one reads one book a year or a hundred plus. It is too bad if this is only a US challenge. I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t be worldwide, but that’s Amazon for you.
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, my nickname was Penol, are we related 😅
I did the Spring challenge and because of it I discovered a few new books series that I am now focusing on. I guess I won’t be getting to the other 100 books I have saved in my kindle for reading. It was fun. though not impressed with vella reading. I tried to read one comedy scifi and it was boring. So, it pushed me to expand my reading. I agree that they should open this up to other countries, not just the USA website. As long as you are registered to the USA website, it doesn’t matter what country you physically reside. I got all 16 achievements. Ultimately this is not just for fun but a promotional campaign for Amazon. But I don’t see it as a bad thing. Everyone wins here. Having KU really helps to complete the achievements. This gives KU a little more value, I think.
I participated in Spring but there are some things I’m just realizing. For instance, if you don’t swipe to the very end of the book, kindle won’t mark it as read and give you credit. I’m have trouble tracking all my free books as I think I didn’t swipe to the very end, so when I returned them to make room for another, it did not count as read. So to say I’m annoyed is an understatement. Very disappointing
The Challenge did not count one of my days. I know this sounds silly as there is no real “prize” but I’d still like the credit for the reading. I tried calling Amazon and they had no idea what I was talking about. What can I do?