Reading books is an excellent approach to acquire and increase your knowledge on a certain topic. Little did you know that you can get paid online for reading books. People often ask how to get paid to read books? If you enjoy reading, there are many ways you can get paid for reading books. Some of them are best suited for folks who are seeking for a low cost side hustle to generate extra money. Others can be rewarding and can become full-time jobs or a business. Listed below are a number of useful ideas to help you get paid to read.
Read Books Out Loud
If you have a pleasant voice and can speak clearly, you can narrate audiobooks. You’ll be paid to read books aloud. An excellent side gig for book lovers. The pay is reasonable, and there are no initial or recurring expenditures. Writers don’t want to miss out on extra exposure and income. Regardless of how many books they sell, they can profit from the booming audiobook market. They frequently engage narrators to narrate their novels for audiobook stores like Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. An audiobook narrator doesn’t need formal vocal training, acting experience, or a costly home studio. Vocal and acting training can help, but are not required.
To get started, all you need is:
- A computer Mic stand and pop filter
- Headphones
- Free audio recording software like Audacity
- A sample recording of your voice
The income for reading books aloud varies, like with most freelance jobs. Your earnings range from $25 for a simple children’s book to hundreds for a 6-10 hour business audiobook. Reviewers pay more for experienced narrators. Work on Fiverr, People Per Hour, and Upwork while building your portfolio. Look into Amazon’s Audiobook Creative Exchange for better income (ACX). This online portal connects authors and narrators. You can charge an hourly rate or a percentage of your sales royalties.
Provide E-Books Conversion Services
Many authors would prefer hiring someone to handle the technical aspects of their digital books instead of worrying about establishing a clickable table of contents or aligning photographs. This is a great opportunity for you. You can convert e-books for them and get paid for it. You may receive a Word document that you have to convert to an e-book format like MOBI for Kindle or EPUB for other platforms. Skills in HTML, picture editing, and experience with Word, InDesign, and Calibre are essential. The cost of e-book conversion varies depending on the author’s needs. A simple document can cost as little as $15, while complex technical guides or image-heavy works might cost as much as $250.
Proofreader
If you do not have extensive expertise in the book publishing company or samples of your work, potential customers could be interested in having a test or re-reading a sample document. Editors, authors, and anyone writing anything for the public purpose need proofreaders. Fiction and non-fiction are part of this. Proofreading demands for great attention to detail. Clear grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization is also necessary. You can work from home, coffee shop or wherever Wi-Fi is available. There are no predetermined times, simply time limits. An hourly rate of $30 to $40 is common among freelance proofreaders on gig economy platforms and job boards like Upwork.
Copyeditor
A subdivision of proofreading is copyediting. Copyeditors do more than just repair errors and straighten spelling. A professional copyeditor will also check for style, formatting, clarity, and flow. You could also fact-check or suggest improvements to make the material easier to read. Copyeditors interested in editing books can find work with publishing companies and indie authors. The pay for freelance copyeditors varies depending on the assignment and other considerations. Editors could be paid on the basis of word count, page count, hour count, or a flat wage. The Editorial Freelancers Association estimates the hourly rate at $30-$60. Freelance book editing jobs pay on the high end.
If you wish to work as a copyeditor or do freelance copyediting, you should get a copyediting certificate. A certificate provides credibility and may help you get your foot in the door. You’ll also develop new skills and improve existing ones. There are copywriting certificate programs at several schools and universities. Online and in-person courses are also available.
Write Book Reviews
To earn money while reading books, one can become a book reviewer. Writing book reviews for money could be one of the best ways for book readers to give their honest ideas. There are so many legit websites offering book reviews. The aim of your work is to provide summaries of the books, as well as your own unique insights. You’ll also be supplying book review websites with content, helping writers acquire recognition, helping your fellow readers, all this while getting compensated for you efforts.
Websites that Pay You to Write Book Reviews
Online literary magazines and book review websites frequently recruit freelancers to write reviews. Some review sites are very particular about their writing style and other standards. Some seek seasoned critics to offer detailed reviews. Others seek feedback from passionate followers of a certain genre. Most book review services require at least one sample review of one of your favorite books as part of the application process. A few require a résumé, cover letter, professional references, or a mix. Read as many reviews as you can before contacting any of the sites listed below. That will help you decide.
Book Browse
You must submit sample reviews of at least 300 words if you are interested in becoming a reviewer with Book Browse. Book Browse evaluates fictional adults, nonfiction, and young adult books. Reviewers write approximately one review every month. The majority of Book Browser reviewers are based in the US, although the company is available for employers from outside the USA. Publisher are unlikely to ship print copies to a home outside the USA so you should have to be comfortable with an e-book rather than a physical copy.
Online Book Club
This review website is yet another platform that will pay you to read books and provide honest reviews. You will receive the book for free for your first review. You will start receiving compensations for your book reviews after the trial time has ended. No books are charged for when you review them. If you didn’t like the book that’s all right. There is no need to post a positive review of the book. The company only seeks a sincere one. The current range for online book club payouts is from $5 and $60 per review.
The U.S. Review of Books
Writers who meet certain qualifications can have their book reviews published on the U.S. Review of Books website. You can figure out the level of quality they are shooting for just by looking at their tagline: “Professional Reviews for the People.” The U.S. Review of Books assigns book reviews to freelancers based on merit, not randomness. They publish a list of book titles for evaluation. Reviewers can submit their preferred writing styles. Assignments are distributed in order of request and whether you have the appropriate expertise, interests, and background.
A regular review will run between 250-300 words and text is Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) compliant. You will have around two to three weeks to finish your evaluation. For every review completed during the preceding month, reviewers receive a monthly check.
Booklist Online
To help librarians and readers select books, the American Library Association publishes Booklist, a book review magazine. In its evaluation of fiction, nonfiction, and young adult publications, as well as audiobooks and DVDs, Booklist features work from all genres, from memoir to classic to fantasy. Booklist, on average, reviews about 8,000 books per year. They do accept freelance book reviews in order to maintain the level of book publication. To be fair, a standard review should be no more than 175 words. If the book is excellent, there is room for 225-word reviews with the consent of the editor.
Booklist evaluations are known as “the haiku of book reviewing” because that’s how concise they are. Booklist Publications pays $15 for every approved entry and $5 for every rejected entry. Learn their guidelines, then contact the appropriate editor with samples of your writing.
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly claims to be the “Bible of the Book Business,” a news magazine that releases each week. They produce news and reviews about the industry, as well as interviews and snippets from various genres. Book reviews come ahead of the book’s release, and they typically run between 200 and 400 words. One of the advantages of being a subscriber is that the service has an extensive history of user reviews stretching back to 1987, so your work is guaranteed to garner some attention as a result.
To get an entry-level job as a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly, you’ll need a CV, samples of your work, and a book review to show to the potential employer. You can check their jobs page if you’re interested.
Any Subject Books
Any Subject Books does not ask you to commit to a long-term project, and operates on a book-by-book basis to make the process the most efficient for you. Once the review is completed, the book will be passed on to the author, who will post it on their website. Once authors have read your review, they are able to copy it, but they are not permitted to change the content in any way.
