It used to be that folks would pay to read. Now, governments like Singapore’s are looking to pay citizens (and kids) to take up the habit again. The country has launched a new five-year campaign to convince its residents to read more. Pay of that convincing is in the form of monetary return.
Don’t start packing your bags and a selection of good books with plans to earn cash by doing what you love, however. The city’s campaign only pays a daily pittance, and participants can only clock in fifteen minutes of reading once a day towards it. Over the campaign’s five-year run, it’ll add up… just not to a whole lot.
“Clearly you’ve never been to Singapore“
Most outlets reporting on Singapore’s reading initiative reckon that the programme is running over five years. The official website is less clear, giving details of giveaways that run into October 2026. The core concept is identical — logging fifteen minutes of reading awards readers with twenty virtual coins, plus some virtual experience points awarded via an app. Collect enough of the former, and it’ll convert into cash.
In this case, it’ll take a thousand coins to earn one Singapore dollar. Strict adherence to the program over five years will spit out roughly R400. That’s… not much money at all, but it’s certainly more than you’d normally earn for reading for about 390 hours. The point is to get lax readers to build up a new daily habit. Fifteen minutes a day definitely stacks up.
Melissa Tam, head of the country’s National Library Board, explains, “While short-form content helps us stay informed, long-form reading strengthens attention, critical thinking and imagination.” Offering a small cash payment and a chance to use various e-reader devices seems like a small price to pay to boost those human functions — even if they have to use a connected app to do it.
