Want to learn how to get paid to read books?
Did you know that you can get paid to read books? Yes, you can actually get paid to do something that you probably do every day and enjoy doing.
If you find yourself staying up late finishing the last chapters of a book, taking every opportunity to cozy up on the sofa with a new book, or listening to audiobooks non-stop, then this could be a great way to make money.
What most people don’t realize is that there are legitimate websites that pay for reading books aloud. There are also companies that pay you to review books.
We are talking about real jobs in this industry.
Most of these companies allow you to work from home, so it’s a flexible way to make extra money.
Can I make a career out of reading books? Yes! There are even those who get paid to read books as a full-time job, but it’s also an option if you’re simply looking for a way to make extra money on the side of your day job.
No matter what you’re looking for, there are many ways to earn money by reading books.
Whatever your favorite type of book may be, whether it be horror, romance, fiction, nonfiction, or one of the many others, you can get paid to read books.
This is one of those jobs that probably sounds too good to be true, which is why I decided to do an entire article on it.
This article will explain how you can get paid to read books, legitimate websites that pay you to read books, as well as answer some questions that you may have about this topic.
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16 Legitimate Ways To Get Paid To Read Books
Is there a job that pays you to read books? Yes! Below are 16 ways to get paid to read books.
Best Sites To Get Paid To Review Books Online
Yes, there are websites that will pay you to review books. Each site varies, but you are typically paid cash via PayPal or bank transfer, and/or you may receive a free book in exchange for your review.
Yes, this means that you can get paid to review books!
Now, these websites are looking for more than positive reviews. They want to hear what you genuinely think.
Publishers and new authors often send out free copies of their book so that they can have a real review of their book. This is because readers, like you and me, want to read reviews before spending too much time diving into a book.
If you’re wondering how to read books and get paid, becoming a book reviewer and writing book summaries may be a great place to start.
Some of the ideas below may be very easy to apply for, and others may want a resume, a sample book review or sample work, and possibly even professional references. You can click on the links below and learn more about the company, how it works, and what they’re looking for when it comes to this side gig.
You won’t get rich signing up for these websites to get paid to read books, but it can be way to earn side income while also enjoying this hobby.
There are many more websites that will give you paid and/or free books to review books, but the list below are the most popular platforms that I was able to find.
This free training teaches you how to start a proofreading side hustle (and how to earn $1,000+ per month!), even if you are brand new and don’t have any previous proofreading experience.
Below are websites to check out if you’re interested in book review opportunities:
1. Online Book Club
Online Book Club – With OnlineBookClub.org, you are first paid with a book (no cash). For all books after that, you will be eligible to be paid for the book review opportunities, plus the books will always be free.
With this website, you can get paid around $5 to $60 for each book that you review. Over 10,000 authors have sent Online Book Club their book for review.
This website claims that you can make up to a couple hundred dollars a month by reviewing books.
2. Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews – Kirkus Media is looking for book reviewers of English and Spanish language books for their Kirkus Indie section. They look for around a 350-word review, and they are due two weeks after you are assigned to read a book.
Kirkus reviews almost all genres of books, so there are many options to choose from.
They review around 10,000 books each year and are very popular for book reviewers.
3. UpWork
UpWork – With UpWork, you would need to create your own profile and make a listing as a book reviewer. This way, clients and authors can find you and hire you directly to read their book and review it.
Plus, as a freelance book reviewer on UpWork, you can set your own pricing and decide which clients you want to work with.
Some book reviewer profiles I found were charging anywhere from $15 an hour to $75 an hour.
4. The US Review of Books
The US Review of Books – This website uses freelance writers to review books and write reviews that range from 250 to 300 words long.
They are looking for reviews that are summaries that reveal insights about the book.
To be accepted as a book reviewer for the U.S. Review of Books, you have to contact the editor with a resume, sample work, and at least two professional references.
5. Reedsy
Reedsy – With Reedsy Discovery, you can review hundreds of different books before they are published and earn money at the same time. Authors submit their books to Reedsy, specifically to be reviewed by book reviewers.
You then get paid by readers (those who buy a book) as a tip for the review. These tips can be $1, $3, or $5.
6. Booklist
Booklist – Booklist Publications is looking for freelance book reviews that are around 150 to 175 words long that describe the plot, suggest an ideal audience, and more.
Booklist pays $15 for each book review, and you are paid once the review has been published.
This is part of the American Library Association and Booklist reviews sole purpose is to guide school and public library workers in purchasing books for their library.
7. BookBrowse
BookBrowse – On BookBrowse, you can apply to become a book reviewer. You may get paid to read books in several genres such as young adult, nonfiction, adult fiction, graphic novels, and fiction.
BookBrowse book reviewers typically write about one book review a month for this website.
8. Women’s Review of Books
Women’s Review of Books – The Women’s Review of Books (Wellesley Centers for Women) is a print publication that pays people to review books, poetry, and more.
9. Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly – You can submit book reviews to this website, which is a weekly news magazine.
10. New Pages
New Pages – This website features book reviews and literary magazine reviews. They look for short reviews that are 200 words maximum, but also are filled with substance.
Other Ways To Get Paid To Read Books
There are many other ways to read and get paid. Here are some jobs to look into:
11. Become a book proofreader
As a proofreader, you get paid to read books that have not yet been published.
Proofreading is an important step in the publishing process because proofreaders correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. No matter how great an author is, there will always be a need for proofreaders.
So, you can find proofreading jobs for authors who are self-publishing books, all the way to large book publishers.
Online proofreading jobs are in demand, and it is a flexible and detail-orientated work-from-home job. All you need to work as a proofreader is a laptop or tablet, an internet connection, and the ability to spot mistakes.
If you want to get a career out of reading books, a proofreader is a great option if you’re good at spotting errors.
I interviewed a professional proofreader about what it takes to become a proofreader, and she answered questions like:
- What does a proofreader do?
- How much money do proofreaders make each month?
- How do I find beginning proofreading jobs?
You can read all her answers and more at How To Start A Proofreading Business And Make $4,000+ Monthly.
This free training teaches you how to start a proofreading side hustle (and how to earn $1,000+ per month!), even if you are brand new and don’t have any previous proofreading experience.
Recommended reading: How To Become A Proofreader And Work From Anywhere
12. Read aloud for audiobooks
Yes, you can get paid to read books as a voice-over actor.
So, if you like to read books, you can actually get paid to read books aloud!
Audio books are extremely popular right now, and becoming a narrator can be a fun job.
A voice-over actor is the person you hear but rarely see in audiobooks, iTunes, Audible, YouTube videos, radio ads, explainer videos, corporate narration, documentaries, TV commercials, video games, movies, and cartoons.
In 2014, my friend Carrie replaced her salaried day job to become a full-time voice-over actor. People are constantly asking her how she got her start and how they can too.
So, she created a six-week online class, and it sold out. Several of her students booked voice acting jobs before the class was even over!
I was excited to learn more about this work from home job, so I interviewed Carrie to learn:
- How she got into this interesting career field
- Who her most common clients are
- How much money a beginner voice over actor can expect to make
- The positives of becoming a voice-over actor
- How to find your first voice-over job
- The costs, what kind of equipment you need (your voice talent, microphone and headphones!), and more
You can learn more about how to become a narrator for audiobooks (and other voice-over-work) in How To Become A Voice Over Actor.
13. Start a book review blog and earn affiliate income
With a book review blog, you would be reviewing books that are of interest to you or related to your blog topic. This can be a great way to learn how to earn money by reading books online.
Readers will want to hear your honest review in your blog posts.
Then, you could make money in many ways, including by placing affiliate links to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online stores for the books you’re reading. Some bloggers may share their thoughts about books they’ve read, host online discussions, or use books to help readers with different topics.
If you’re unfamiliar with affiliate marketing, it’s my favorite way to make money blogging.
Here’s how affiliate marketing works:
- Affiliates are people or businesses who are paid to promote a product or service.
- When you become an affiliate, you are given special links to use when you promote something for a company. The links allow companies to track where the sale comes from.
- Then, you place those links on your website, social media accounts, etc. in the hopes that someone will buy something through your link.
- When someone makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link, the company knows where the customer came from and pays you a commission.
An example is the Amazon affiliate program, which is perfect if you want to start a blog about books. Amazon gives you special links, and you can share a link to a specific book on your website or blog and encourage people to purchase the book through your affiliate link.
Amazon and other companies want quality affiliates under their belt because they want all the help they can get to promote the products and services they are selling. If you get someone to purchase a book through your link, the company pays you for sharing the link.
A book review blog can be a great way to get paid to read books if you want something flexible that can pay very well over time.
Plus, you’ll be your own boss as you get to decide exactly which books you want to read by starting your own blog!
You can learn how to start a book blog with my free How To Start a Blog Course.
Here’s a quick outline of what you will learn:
- Day 1: Reasons you should start a blog
- Day 2: How to determine what to blog about
- Day 3: How to create your blog (in this lesson, you will learn how to start a blog on WordPress – my tutorial makes it very easy to start a blog)
- Day 4: How to make money blogging
- Day 5: My tips for making passive income from blogging (including affiliate income!)
- Day 6: How to grow your traffic and followers
- Day 7: Miscellaneous blogging tips that will help you be successful
I have personally reviewed books on my blog as well, and I have earned income from those book review blog posts – so I know that it is possible! Starting a book review site is something you may be able to do as well.
Another career field closely related to starting a book blog would be to start a Youtube channel reviewing books as well.
14. Get paid to translate books as a freelancer or employee
Are you fluent in another language? If so, then you may be able to find a work-at-home job where you can get paid to read books and translate them into another language.
Another possibility if you know another language, is getting paid to proofread or edit translated books to make sure they read well.
There are lots of places you can find book translation jobs, including:
- UpWork – With UpWork, you simply create a free profile, apply for jobs, and then you can get paid. UpWork charges services fees when you invoice your clients, but it is free to join.
- Babelcube – Babelcube is a website that sends freelance translation projects to you. You select which books you translate, translate them to one of more than 15 different languages, and partner with published authors.
- Guru – Guru is a website that lists freelance writing and translation jobs. This platform focuses mainly on highly skilled freelancers.
- Indeed – Indeed has been around since 2004, and it is one of the longest-running job listing websites. Indeed lists jobs that they find from job boards, staffing firms, company websites, and more.
- FlexJobs – FlexJobs is one of the most popular websites to use to find remote jobs and work-from-home opportunities. It costs to join FlexJobs, but there are lots of features to sort and find jobs, so it might be worth the cost to you.
- Today Translations – This is a website that is looking for translators to freelance for them.
- Fiverr – Fiverr is an online marketplace where you can find freelance jobs all over the world. You can list your translation services and pricing right on this platform.
- Ulatus – Ulatus is a website that provides translation services, which means that they need translators! They have over 200,000 clients worldwide with over 3000 language experts.
- Creating your own website. I am always a fan of having your own website so that clients can find you.
As you can see, if you want to know how to make money reading books, there are lots of options if you want to put your translation skills to work.
15. Get paid to write books
I wanted to include a section on how to get paid to write books as well. If you enjoy reading books, perhaps writing a book is also something you would be interested in doing.
Technically, you would be reading your own book many times, so I think this counts!
Writing your own book is a great way to make money at home.
In fact, my friend Alyssa self-published her first book and has sold more than 13,000 copies so far. She has been able to earn a great passive income of over $200 a day from her book ($6,500 in one month alone!). You can read more about this at How Alyssa is making $200 a DAY in book sales passively.
Another great article to read on how to get paid to write an ebook is How I Made $2,000 in 1 Week by Writing an eBook.
You can also get paid to write romance novels, which are extremely popular with readers.
My friend Yuwanda Black has found one of the most interesting stay at home jobs. She writes romance novels, and in one month, she was able to make over $3,000!
I was able to have her write an article for Making Sense of Cents about her very interesting way to make money at home. In the article, How to Make Money Self-Publishing Short Romance Novels on Amazon, you’ll learn:
- How much money she has made writing romance novels
- Her top tips to start writing successful romance novels
- Why your romance novels do not need to be as long as you think (in fact, her most successful romance books are under 10,000 words)
- How to sell romance novels on Amazon
And much more!
She also has a free Making Money Writing Romance online course that teaches you how to make money writing and self-publishing romance novels.
16. Find a full-time career in the publishing industry reading books
There are many other jobs in the publishing industry if you want to learn how to earn money by reading books.
With these careers in the book publishing business, you will most likely have to read the book in order to do your job. Many of them require at least a bachelor’s degree.
These are mostly full-time jobs such as:
- Book Marketing Assistant
- Book Publicist
- Book Public Relations Agent
- Book Layout Designer
- Book Graphic Designer
- Book Editor
- Copy Editor
- Illustrator
- Literary Agent
- Sales Representative
- Production Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Book Contract Manager
If you’re looking for job openings in the publishing industry, I recommend Publisher’s Weekly.
Frequently Asked Questions About How To Get Paid To Read Books
Below are common questions about how to get paid to read books online.
Can you get paid to read books aloud? Are there jobs that pay you to read books?
Yes, you can get paid to read books out loud. ACX by Amazon/Audible, which I will explain further down, will pay you to narrate books so they can be turned into audiobooks.
Findaway Voices is another audiobook voiceover site.
How much do book readers get paid?
Book readers can get paid varying amounts. It really depends on what type of book reading job you’re looking for and how many hours you put into each job.
Being a proofreader, voice-over actor reading for audiobooks, starting a book review blog, translating books, writing books, and finding a career in the industry can all become a full-time job with a full-time income.
You may get paid $5 for reviewing a book, or you may get paid hundreds or even thousands of dollars. It simply depends on what you are doing and who you are working for.
If you want to learn how to earn money by reading books online, then this can be a great option for you.
How can I get paid $200 to read books? What company will pay you $200 to read a book?
If you are wanting to make $200 a month to read books, there are a few options you can do from the list above.
This may include reviewing books online, proofreading books, learning how to get paid to read books out loud or even learning how to get paid to read books in english, starting your own blog on books, becoming a freelance translator for books, writing your own books, finding a full-time job in the book industry, and more.
Recommended reading: 23 Ways To Get Paid To Write Reviews
Can you make a living reading books? Can I get paid to read books?
Yes, you can make a living reading books. But, not all book reading jobs are full-time jobs.
Some may ask that you simply read a book and write a book review, and others may ask for an application, resume, plus writing samples.
Due to that, some may just be a side hustle.
Related: How To Get Paid To Text
Does Amazon pay you to read books? Will Audible pay me to read books?
Yes!
With ACX, you can find jobs reading audiobooks. ACX stands for Audiobook Creation Exchange, which is Audible.com‘s marketplace where authors and publishers connect with narrators and producers to create audiobooks.
Currently, ACX has over 1,200 books open for audiobook auditions.
With ACX, you can get paid in two different ways for your audiobook narration work:
- A per hour rate that you set, and you are paid once the audiobook is successfully completed
- You can choose to share royalties from sales with the book rights holder
To get started with ACX, you simply:
- Create a profile
- Upload samples of your voice
- Choose how you want to get paid (as described above)
- Audition for the book you are interested in narrating for (this usually includes recording a few minutes of the manuscript)
- Accept an offer. Here you will decide on delivery dates and payment terms
- Start and finish recording for the audiobook.
- Get paid
Recommended reading: 7 Ways To Get Paid For Amazon Reviews
How much do you get paid for reading audiobooks?
The amount that you can get paid to read audiobooks will vary. It may be anywhere from around $1,000 to over $5,000 per book.
Can I read books on YouTube and get paid?
Yes! You can make money on YouTube similar to how you make money blogging. So, you could share affiliate links to the books you read on YouTube.
Once your channel and videos reach a certain number of views, you can also start monetizing with ads. You can learn more in this interview: How I Grew From 0 Subscribers To Over $100,000 On YouTube In Less Than One Year.
What jobs pay you to read books?
The jobs above that pay you to read books include:
- Book reviewer
- Book proofreader
- Narrator
- Voice actor
- Translator
- Author
- Book Marketing Assistant
- Book Publicist
- Book Public Relations Agent
- Book Layout Designer
- Book Graphic Designer
- Book Editor
- Copy Editor
- Illustrator
- Literary Agent
- Sales Representative
- Production Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Book Contract Manager
There are also journalists who work in this field, those who were in the academics field, someone who works at a bookstore such as Barnes & Noble, publishing companies, booksellers, librarians, and so much more.
How To Get Paid To Read Books – Summary
I hope you enjoyed this article on how to get paid for reading books. It was fun to put together, as there are so many different ways for book lovers to get paid for doing something that they enjoy.
As you learned today, there are so many different ways to make money when it comes to books.
From reviewing books, reading books aloud to get paid, selling books online, translating books, and more, you can choose which one interests you the most. You can even get paid to read books for Amazon.
Plus, there are so many different genres that may interest you, non-fiction books, biographies, travel, poetry, and more, to bestsellers to smaller novels from self-published authors.
Are you interested in learning how to get paid to read books?
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