How to Make Money Reading Books

Plenty of hobbies produce crafts and other products that can be sold in a small business. But what if your hobby is a more passive activity that doesn’t result in anything but your enjoyment? What if your passion is books?

How can you make money reading books? Can book lovers turn their hobbies into small businesses, too?

Get Paid to Write Book Reviews

How would you like to get paid for offering honest opinions about the books you read? Writing reviews is one of the most common ways to make money from reading books, and a variety of services are available for both new and experienced reviewers to earn money from freelance book reviews. You can do this through some of the best book apps in the market as well as book summary websites.

Reviewers are sent a recently published book, they read it, and write their opinions. Their reviews will help other readers decide whether or not to read the book.

1. Online Book Club

Online Book Club is a free site that offers a host of resources for book lovers, including original book reviews from the organization’s professional team of book reviewers. Reviewers are paid cash for writing quality reviews, and they can earn anywhere from $5 to $30 each to review books in practically every literary category.

2. Reedsy Discovery

Book lovers also can earn cash from book reviewing for Reedsy Discovery. Members enroll to read self-published books before anyone else, but they aren’t paid per review. Instead, they receive $1, $3 or $5 tips from those who read and appreciate their book reviews.

A book reviewer who builds a positive reputation among Reedsy users potentially can be contacted directly by writers to review their books, and their tips can accumulate into a nice sum.

3. Writerful Books

Experienced book reviewers can apply to provide genuine reviews of contemporary fiction for pay at Writerful Books. The average pay for a Writerful Books reviewer ranges from $10 to $50 per book reviewed, but the top reviewers can earn $100 Amazon gift cards.

Not too shabby for reading a book and giving an honest review. Writerful Books is selective and prefers those with published reviews, so have some previous book review samples available.

Get Free Books for Reading Books

You aren’t always paid in cash when reading books. What if you could earn free books simply for reading them?

A variety of organizations and book review sites will offer free books to encourage people to read their titles, and some apps even are designed to encourage reading with small payments.

4. Lola’s Blog Tours

Lola’s Blog Tours promotes books across various websites and blogs, but it also seeks independent reviews of its featured publications. Readers can watch for review opportunities and request a free review copy. The site looks for experienced reviewers, bloggers and bookstagrammers.

5. Bethany House

Operated by the Baker Publishing Group, Bethany House specializes in Christian titles. The organization seeks reviewers with a platform, such as a blog or social media platform, that can help its authors promote their works, and offers free copies to accepted applicants.

6. Bookshout

Bookshout offers an app that helps users set reading goals and track their progress. When readers meet their goals, they are paid in Bookshout bucks, which can be exchanged for free e-books.

Get Paid to Read Books on Amazon

It only makes sense that Amazon would offer ways to make money reading books. After all, the global marketplace started out as an online bookstore. Amazon is still one of the world’s most popular book retailers, and it offers multiple ways to earn extra money from books.

7. Amazon Vine

If you’re an experienced reviewer, you could get paid to read with Amazon Vine. The invitation-only service hires reviewers to post opinions about new and pre-release items, helping Amazon shoppers make informed purchase decisions.

Amazon invites customers who regularly leave reviews on its website to join its Vine Voices group, and the company provides each chosen book reviewer with free products in exchange for their opinions.

8. Amazon Bookseller

What is a book lover to do after they’ve finished reading what becomes a plethora of titles? While many passionate readers might choose to hoard their personal libraries, readers can also make money by selling their used books on Amazon.

Amazon booksellers can access all the convenient selling tools the eCommerce giant offers to all of its sellers, and sellers can make a steady income stream if they have a steady supply of books to sell.

Make Money Translating Books

If you’re a book lover who speaks more than one language, you can make money translating books.

As the world continues to globalize, translation services grow in importance, and there’s no reason every reader can’t enjoy books from around the planet. Therefore, authors and publishing companies are always looking for readers who can translate their works from one language to another.

9. Babelcube

Babelcube connects self-published authors and those in the book publishing business with freelance translators to create books in languages beyond their original tongue. Translators then earn a share of the royalties from the book’s sales.

Currently translating books into 15 languages, Babelcube also promises translators to see their names printed with credit in the translated book copies.

10. Translate.com

Organizations in need of freelance translators turn to Translate.com to fill their job opportunities. The website features a constantly updated collection of available translation gigs, and freelancers can log in, pass a test and start translating.

Translation jobs include translating text in blog posts, social media posts and even support tickets. Jobs are worked on a first-come-first-serve basis, so translators, who are paid per word, don’t have to worry about bidding on competitive jobs and proving their credentials.

11. Translator’s Base

One of the leading sources of freelance job opportunities for translators is Translator’s Base, where freelance translators can apply for gigs and promote their services.

The website features a frequently updated collection of translation opportunities, including a large number of book translation needs in a variety of languages. Of course, translation gigs aren’t limited to book translations, and Translator’s Base features freelance jobs translating all sorts of texts.

More Ways to Make Money Reading Books

Passionate readers aren’t limited to writing book reviews and translating texts in their quests to make money reading books. A variety of other employment opportunities are available for avid readers looking for either a career change or some extra cash.

Why not try some of the following opportunities and get paid to read books?

12. Audiobook Narrator

How would you like to get paid to read books aloud? As an audiobook narrator, you could earn money from reading texts for publication in audiobook formats. Platforms like Audible and iTunes will turn to sources such as ACX by Amazon to seek professional voice talent for their audiobook recordings.

All that’s needed to get started reading aloud for money with ACX by Amazon is an Amazon account, and you can apply to be a narrator. Of course, experience is always helpful, so have some audio samples available to showcase your talent as a voice over artist.

13. Editor

An avid reader with a knowledge or grammar rules is perfectly suited to work editing books and proofreading them. How would you like to read unpublished works and offer feedback to the author? An editor will help an author work on their overall content, including writing structure, organization and even the presentation of ideas.

Meanwhile, a proofreader looks at the text’s grammar, usage and punctuation, helping to ensure the book uses perfect language for the most professional presentation. Both opportunities exist as full-time careers or through countless freelance opportunities and side gigs.

14. Blogger

How would you like to get paid to share your opinions on books with the world? If you find you have a constant stream of things to say about books, why not start you own blog and make money from publishing your thoughts? Anyone can start a blog by setting up their own website, and you can start publishing articles and other posts.

If you’ve established an audience of readers, you can monetize your blog and make money from publishing advertisements and sharing affiliate links. With a large enough readership, bloggers can step into the world of influencing and earn money from a variety of other outlets.

15. Summary Writer

Reviewers aren’t the only roles who get paid to write about books. Instead of sharing honest opinions, why not make money from reading books and writing summaries of them?

A variety of publications look for readers to write book summaries, and many of these job opportunities are posted on popular freelancing job boards like Flexjobs and Upwork. Like many other side hustles, freelancing opportunities are competitive, so be sure to have your writing samples available to submit and show the type of work you will provide.

16. Booktuber

An entire segment of YouTube is dedicated to discussing books. These content creators, known collectively as Booktubers, read books, talk about them in videos and make money as influencers through revenue streams like affiliate marketing, paid memberships and even donations.

To become a booktuber, you must establish a YouTube channel and start creating videos to attract an audience. The most successful booktubers regularly promote their content through social media channels like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

How much money can you make reading books?

Avid book readers can make anywhere from a few dollars to a full-time salary from reading books, depending on the opportunities they pursue. For example, an experienced book reviewer might earn anywhere from $10 to $100 for reviewing books, which varies on a book-by-book basis.

A book editor in the publishing business, on the other hand, might earn tens of thousands each year in their full time job. In either case, the more books you read as part of your professional endeavor, the more money you can earn.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, “How to Make Money Reading Books” was first published on Small Business Trends