Reading books the whole day, all days of the week is definitely fun. But, it can not pay for our expenses. Or can it?
If you are wondering how to get paid to read books, you have come to the right place. Especially if you have an above-average reading speed, the jobs are plenty for you.
You may apply on sites for paid book reviews, or you may even become an audiobook narrator.
Let us explore different jobs and their related sites for us book lovers.
How to Get Paid to Read Books?
How to get paid to read books online or offline? Well, there are a great many options for it. From reviewing to publishing, those who love to read can opt for any kind of paid job.
Following are some of the jobs for that crazy book lover in you:
- Book Reviewer: You may write paid book reviews that involve writing, summaries, synopsis, analysis, or even literary criticism. If you can do fast reading with the help of tools like Bionic Reading apps, you may earn up to 70 USD per review.
- Proofreader: The proofreaders work alongside writers to check for errors in grammar, facts, consistency, continuity, legality, and formatting. The proofreaders may earn up to 95,000 USD per year.
- Literary Translator: It is the job of a literary translator to translate books into multiple languages without ruining their actual message and meaning. A good translator, especially for a platform like Kindle Unlimited, may earn up to 100,000 USD per annum.
- Publishing Acquisitions Editor: A publishing acquisitions editor is equipped with the role of reading multiple manuscripts and selecting those that might be profitable to publish. Typically, they may earn up to 85,000 USD a year.
- Audiobook Narrator: Becoming an audiobook narrator on Audible or other platforms is a way to get paid to read books aloud. It requires one to have good voice-acting skills. The typical salary could be up to 500 USD per finished hour.
- Book Influencer: A book influencer reviews and recommends books through social media channels or blogs. The income could be via affiliate links or direct collaboration with publishing houses.
- Other Jobs in the Publishing Industry: Further, some other jobs in the publishing industry might include publicists, book marketers, literary agents, book cover designers, artists, production managers, and book sales managers.
Therefore, if you worry about how to get paid for reading books, you may explore any of the above jobs online and choose one that suits your interests.
10 Sites to Get Paid Book Review Jobs
If you want to get paid book reviews jobs, there are multiple sites for it. It doesn’t matter if you love fiction or nonfiction books, for good writers there will never be a scarcity of projects.
Scroll below to find the best sites for book-reviewing projects.
At Online Book Club you may become a reviewer and earn $5 to $60 per review, along with a free copy of the book. Currently, over 10,000 readers have shared their opinions on books on this site.
This site demands 350-word reviews within 2 weeks of being assigned a book. Here you may review books for money in English or Spanish for the Kirkus Indie titles.
The website sends out 250-300 word long book opinions in its monthly newsletter for subscribers. You may sign up and choose books in any genre of your interests – top personal training books or even popular high school books. The payment is made on a monthly basis.
Publishers Weekly is known for pre-publication book reviews and opinions on self-published works. They pay up to 25 USD per assignment.
This is another site to get paid to review books. It is known for providing 300-word opinions on books. You can apply on their site and ask for the exact payment structure for writers.
The Women’s Review of Books is a premier feminist publication, that hires writers for writing plot summaries and critiques. You may apply at their site and learn about the payment.
Booklist hires writers for less than 150-word reviews. The payment is generally $15 per review. While writing a piece you may even annotate a book to further help the site in improving its content quality.
The Reedsy Discovery is for Indie book lovers. The authors on the platform, pay for book reviews. While readers can also pay tips as a token of appreciation.
This site pays writers to develop book summaries of 1000 to 1500 words. With one summary, they are able to earn up to 100 USD.
With this platform for freelancers, you may get writing gigs from authors and publications. The project could be a one-time thing or a long-term collaboration.
Thus, for those of you with good writing skills, getting paid to read books has become easier through these platforms.
13 Sites to Get Paid to Read Books Aloud
If you have ever availed the best audiobook subscription services, you must know about the concept of ‘listening to books’. So, becoming an audiobook narrator is a way to get paid to read books aloud.
Following are some of the platforms that hire audiobook narrators.
ACX is a popular platform that hires book narrators and may even help you to get paid to read books for Audible and iTunes. They pay for hourly work, along with a percentage of book royalties.
This platform hires audiobook narrators for books, podcasts, instructional videos, and advertisements. They work for brands like History Channel and Shopify and may pay up to 300 USD per finished hour of work.
It provides a medium for freelance voice actors to directly connect with authors and publishers. There is only an annual subscription fee of 199 USD with no limit on the number of jobs you can apply for.
If you have ever shared audible books for free, you must be aware of this platform. The narrators can apply directly on their site, or on ACX and immediately start reading books for money.
This company is an independent audiobook producer and hires storytellers to narrate graphic novels and podcasts. The payment is based on per finished hour and a percentage of royalties.
This site hires voice-over artists for a wide variety of industries. They want their recruits to be equipped with professional recording equipment and be able to work on tight schedules.
Backstage is known for hiring narrators for audiobooks and podcasts. However, one major drawback is that they charge subscription fees even from the narrators.
Writers who want to be getting paid to read books for Amazon, may also do it with one of their subsidiaries – Brilliance Audio. They even provide training to new audiobook narrators.
his group specializes in developing voice-overs for commercials, translations, and small videos. The platform demands quick turnaround, and pay on each project basis.
Voice 123 is a global marketplace that hires professional voice actors to work for movies, cartoons, audiobooks, video games, advertisements, and radio stations. They do not charge a commission fee and will want the actors to directly connect with the publications and authors.
This website provides the platform for freelance narrators and voice-over artists, to directly search for jobs in their directory. However, they charge a monthly subscription fee for premium memberships.
If you want to read books for money, Bodalgo hires voice-over-artists for multiple languages. Apart from audiobook narration, they also hire for e-learning courses, commercials, and podcasts.
One can apply for a narrator job in the e-learning and audiobook industry. However, they want their employees to have a home studio and be ready to work on tight schedules.
Therefore, to get paid to read books aloud you may explore any of the above sites, their work conditions, and payment schedules.
To Sum it Up
Getting paid for reading books has become a new way for us book lovers to make money online.
Especially if you are an avid reader at platforms like z-library alternatives, or LibGen alternatives, you are capable of working for a great variety of book publication houses.
All you need to do is search for a job that suits you, and an authentic site that pays for it.
FAQs
Ans: You may get in direct contact with authors and publication houses on Upwork, where you may demand much more than $200 to read a book.
Ans: Of course, getting paid to read books is legit, but you might not make enough living out of it unless you are an expert at it.
Ans: To become a beta reader you must have vast exposure to authors and publication houses. Joining an online community through websites and applications might help a lot in this.
Ans: Yes, you may make money on Goodreads by adding affiliate links to your content.
Ans: Alpha readers read rough drafts of books and provide their critical feedback on them.