Imagine your favorite reading chair becoming your most profitable workspace.
For many, the idea of getting a paycheck for diving into a new novel sounds like a fantasy, but the digital publishing boom has changed the rules.
Learning how to get paid for reading books at home is now a viable side hustle for bibliophiles and speed readers alike.
Here are the ways.
- Professional Book Reviewer
- Freelance Proofreader
- Audiobook Narrator (ACX/Audible)
- Affiliate Marketer
- Online Book Club Moderator
Keep reading, and I’ll go over these steps in detail and my experience with some of them.
Which Book Side Hustle Fits You?
1. Do you enjoy performing or reading out loud?
Become a Professional Book Reviewer for Money
Did you know that annually, there are over 4 million books published?
A book reviewer’s job is to read the book and provide an objective opinion to the public on whether it’s worth their time.
You can do it from home.
If you love to read books, why not get paid to review them? Usually, you need to write 300 words for the review (damn, that is easy).
Most of my blog posts are at least 1,000-3,000 words.
The bad news is the pay isn’t great, usually it’s around $50-$75 a review.
The top player is Kirkus Reviews. Some other places could be..
Remote Freelance Proofreading Jobs for Beginners
Do you like details?
Your job is to find the little errors people miss. This job has expanded beyond books to include AI-generated content and important documents.
Yes, AI does make mistakes. In fact, this is 1 mistake I caught AI.
The good news is you can do this job from home.
Plus, the pay is good at $25 to $55 an hour.
Even better news is that if you niche down, you can earn WAY more than a general blog proofreader. You know, legal or medical.
You might be wondering how to find these jobs.
I would highly recommend this place HERE. They have a massive selection of work-from-home jobs. More importantly, they vet each job to ensure it’s legit, real, and not a scam.
Plus, they help you get the job.
How to Start an Audiobook Narrator Career (ACX & Audible)
This is 100% work from home.
However, if there is serious construction next door, then you will have to pause.
Start by exercising your vocal cords.
I play guitar for a hobby and sing, and there is a liberating feeling in using the full range of your vocal cords, which most people don’t do.
Sort of like how most people don’t breathe from their gut, they breathe shallow.
For every hour of finished audio, expect to do at least that in editing, if you don’t outsource it.
Then in the evening, maybe record some auditions for our next gig or read ahead for tomorrow’s chapter.
The pay is either a flat fee or you could get a percentage of the royalty, and this means you get paid every time the audiobook sells. If it’s a 50/50 cut, meaning you get 50% of the royalties, that could be a lot of money (depending on the book).
The flat fee could be $50-$400 per finished hour, depending on your skill and experience level. To find these gigs, a great place to start is Fiverr HERE.
Pros
- Can get royalties if you split it with the author 50/50.
- Very creative, you get to play different characters.
- Work from home on your schedule.
Cons
- There is some unpaid work, such as with auditions.
- Isolated.
- Vocal strain and back strain can happen.
- Editing.
For equipment, a nice microphone like this HERE can help a ton. It’s way better than the lavalier mic that I have. A nice headphone like this HERE can help you find the areas to edit.
If you want to make your room EVEN quieter, there are nifty ways to do this.
Something like this HERE can block noise under the doors. This might be the first area to start with.
If you want to go hardcore, you can purchase something like HERE that can help with the walls. A cheaper option would be soundproof blankets you can put on the walls, like this HERE.
High-Paying Affiliate Marketing for Book Bloggers and Lovers
This is my favorite way to make cash period!
The reason why is that it’s as passive as you can get. Affiliate marketing is when you post a link, and if someone clicks on it and buys something or fills out a form, you get paid.
Honestly, even with a blog, you should update the posts every 6 months, but still. The reason I love it is how flexible it is.
You can do it anywhere, anytime, in nearly any niche; it’s super fun, and yes, you can earn money.
There are LOTS of different business models, but they ALL can be improved with a list. I’ve been doing it for 15+ years. When I got started, it was all about building a list.
Today, it’s still about building a list. I can list 20-30 reasons easily to build a list, but I’ll just share 1 powerful reason.
You own the traffic. Yep!
Even better, I’m sharing how to build a list, earn money with it for FREE in this guide HERE.
Book Review Profit Gauge
Estimate your monthly Amazon Affiliate earnings!
Work as an Online Book Club Moderator
A moderator is more about having a safe place and setting the culture.
A typical day could look like you start by reviewing posts and answering questions. Then draft thought-provoking questions for the topic.
Then update the club’s reading schedule, manage subscriptions, and make appointments with authors.
Possibly in the evening, you can do a live meeting and ensure everyone gets time to contribute.
Not too difficult, right?
I used to run a large Reddit Group as a moderator. It took me 8 months to build it up to around 6,000 members.
What happened to me was on Saturday, someone posted in my group, “Hi, I’m a 25-year-old girl who wants to talk to someone.”
It got a lot of thumbs up, so I left it.
Sunday, I went outside and didn’t check the group, then on Monday, someone from corporate decided to ban the subreddit.
It wasn’t a paid gig, but there are ways to get paid as a moderator.
Entry level platforms, you can earn $15 to $25 an hour.
Just remember to read and follow the rules, so you don’t get banned as I did. Still, it’s their website, so in reality, they can ban you or change the rules anytime.
I would recommend checking this place HERE to find good places to be a moderator.
There is an option to go an independent route with Substack. It’s a really cool website where you can charge for members, and I wrote a post HERE on how to get started.
Also, if you’re going to be spending lots of time looking at a screen, which is what a moderator does, these types of glasses are really cool. They help prevent eye strain and protect your vision.
Conclusion: Choosing the Best Work-From-Home Book Job
I hope this post might have been helpful.
The cool thing with working from home is you save lots of gas and wear and tear on your car because you don’t have to commute.
Plus, you save time.
It also opens up lots of other opportunities. For more, I wrote a post HERE that gives you 10 easy steps to finding a work-from-home gig for your personality.
Have a wonderful day.