Getting paid to review books?

JEEC

Does anybody know of any companies / websites that pay you to review books?

I know Waterstones let card holders get copies of books for free to review them but as far as I know they don't pay for the reviews.

I'm currently on holiday and I've brought a few books with me, I'd forgotten how much I love reading, and while OH is entertaining our little boy in the pool I'm getting the opportunity to read again for the first time in a while and it's got me thinking. I have a few hours every evening after baby has gone to bed, and reading is a good way to chill out after work too. So, if I could earn a little extra by reviewing the books I'm reading then that would be great!

Voyager2002

A great many published book reviews are written by people who are not paid, but keep the book and are glad to see their names in print. So in order to be paid for a review, you would need to be very well established as a cultural commentator.

Hermia

JEEC wrote: »

I know Waterstones let card holders get copies of books for free to review them but as far as I know they don't pay for the reviews.

There are so many people willing to review books for free (bloggers as well as people who gets books via Waterstones/Amazon Vine etc) that I can't see why any company would pay you unless you were famous. It might be worth setting up a book blog as there are some that gets lots of hits so therefore get lots of freebies, but you do need to put a lot of effort in. Those bloggers read a LOT of books.

Sixer

You can post book reviews on sites like Dooyoo and Ciao and maybe earn a few pennies that way. Otherwise, as others have said, the best you could hope for is a free copy of the book. And even then, you might receive ARCs (proof copies) which, strictly, you aren't allowed to sell. So you couldn't even make money that way.