6 Proven Methods to Earn Money by Reading Books Online

If reading is a major hobby of yours, but you are looking to make money on the side, I can confidently tell you there are many legit ways you can earn a decent amount of money from simply loving and reading your favorite books. There are several ways to do this, however not all options will give you large cashouts or take only a couple hours a day. 

Whether its quite literally reading a book and not doing much else, or reading a book and creating a review about it, I hope you will feel inspired after learning all of the possibilities. 

Create a BookTok Channel ($0.02-$0.03 per 1k Views)

Creating a Booktok channel on TIktok is one of the best trending ways to make money reading books and grow your book reading audience. BookTok is the book-focused side of TikTok, with a huge influence on readers worldwide. As a result, book sales have surged due to recommendations. You can find references to Booktok anywhere including your local bookstore or even Barnes and Noble.  

Resharing this content or creating your own Booktok profile could help grow your online brand and teach you how earn money through social media by creating:

If you are already getting paid to write reviews or working towards building your online brand for a wider reach, Booktok is a great alternative for making money by reading books. However, it does take time to start earning. You also make on average (if you are starting to gain traction) 2-4 cents per 1,000 views. However, if you sponser authors, you could make up to $2,000 to $3,000 per video. 

To really make money on BookTok you will either need to be sponsered by authors to advertise their books for them, or you would need a large following already so you can get paid for views. This can take a long time, if you are really dedicated the minimum time you would need to spend posting (literally every day), would be 6 months. 

Expect to create a schedule and content plan for BookTok as well, as daily posting is exhausting. Ensuring you are always on top of trends, you will need to spend a lot of time on creating which can ultimately make this from a cute small side hustle to a huge full time burden. 

While BookTok could be a great long-term branding strategy, there are some quicker ways to get money through writing reviews or other apps to download to make money

Become a Beta Reader ($3-$35 per Hour)

Beta readers are in high demand with hundreds of new books releasing daily. You can work as a freelancer using Fiverr or Upwork to find Beta Reader gigs. Beta Readers are usually requested to also provide feedback to the writer on how they can improve their stories. This is extremely important to authors and publishers to ensure the book feels or if they need to improve anything on their end before the official release. 

The pay of a Beta Reader really depends on your experience and time that you have to put towards the gig. Starting out you may be making about $35 per book, but later down the road you can start seeing $300 to $400 per book session (or $35 per hour).

If you want to try to get started as a Beta Reader, you first need to show you have experience as a reader and have a keen eye for storytelling. Storytelling is not an easy route to fully understand, so maybe taking a few courses on how it works could help you out for success!

A couple of my recommended courses in storytelling:

Although Beta reading sounds easy, unless you already have a good grasp of storytelling and popular book influences, it can be a hard gig to get into. However, once you have what it takes, its fast and easy as you simply need to read books and provide feedback to the author. 

If you want to be a Beta Reader but looking to earn quickly, you can earn your first 50 dollars on Freecash at full tilt with easy cashouts.

Create an Online Book Club ($5-$10 per Month)

Running your own book club is a great way to reach other book readers and create a following for reading books. While online or in person, you can get creative with book clubs and invite like-minded individuals to contribute. Book Clubs can earn you money by offering a space for others to discuss favorite books, hosting online sessions, or even inviting authors to book release events.

Even though it may not make you a full salary, you can easily earn about $5-10 per person, and if you have exclusive events with good authors, you can charge more for members to participate. 

To get started, you will need to find platforms that support book clubs. A few of my most recommended websites and methods would be:

Just keep in mind this option is a long term commitment, as finding new members can become a difficult journey. It is also a rather low earning option, that requires a lot of strategizing and planning. 

Create a Book Podcast ($0.04-$0.09 per Download)

Creating a book podcast can be a great way to make money by reading or even meet your favorite author. There are many topics you can cover, such as discussing upcoming books, hosting Q&As or even sponsering an Author. Unlike the book club idea, a podcast is an easy way to grow by yourself, and not have to worry about memberships. 

Book Podcasters face a highly competitive industry, as many out there have maybe nicer equipment, more experience, etc. Although, if your niche is unique and stands out, and you know how to have a successfully monetized podcast, you can end with hundreds of listeners by sponsereships, patreon support, affiliates, or advertising revenue. 

To start a successful podcast, it can require a lot of expensive equipment, and you would need a dedicated space to record sessions for optimal audio quality. Here are a few suggested items you should have before getting started:

Once you have these lined up, you are well on your way to having a successful podcast. Keep in mind that if you want to make a podcast public, and make money, I recommedn using Creators (Free) or Libsyn (Paid).

Making money from a podcast is very similar to making money through social media. You will need to build an audience who enjoys your sessions. With this, it can take a few months to start gaining traction. However, you can earn a few hundred per month once you start having a few thousand podcasts being downloaded per month ($500-900 per 10,000 downloads). 

Proofread or Translate Books ($25 per hour)

If you have a good eye for detail and have an excellent grasp of grammar, making money by proofreading or translating books can be an excellent option to earn money through book reading. There are hundreds if not thousands of books to be proofread and translated. Making this gig an unending opportunity for you to make money form reading. 

You can easily get involved with proofreading and translation, as it might be the gig here that requires less effort. From what I have found on platforms like Upwork, you can easily make from $25 to $45 per hour to proofread and $30 to $50 per hour to translate books. Best of all, these are gigs that can be easily done as a part-time job, using skills that you already have obtained. 

There are multiple platforms you can begin finding gigs to start proofreading or translating through, such as Upwork, Fiverr, Gengo and Translated. 

Creating an account on these platforms is free and makes your profile visible to potential clients, increasing your chance to earn money. Typically, authors offer fixed prices at a decent rate, so you can begin reading and editing books for guaranteed cash. 

If you are unsure about the guarantee of your earnings, reward platforms ensure quick and easy deposits with guaranteed payouts through Visa or even free Amazon gift cards to spend on your next Kindle ebook.

Create Book Voiceovers ($20-$30 per hour)

Creating book voiceovers is in high demand as the audiobook industry booms. A variety of content, including fiction and nonfiction, needs to be narrated. If you want to consider being a book narrator or VO artist, there are multiple platforms to choose from:

Similar to podcasts, narrating requires rather expensive audio recording gear along with studio rental. While you can earn good money reading books through being a narrator (about $30 per hour), it can be hard to ensure proper quality and thus resulting in slow growth (a couple months until you land a good paying gig) as a result. 

Alternatively, you can also get paid to read books out loud which requires much less equipment, however less earning opportunity.