Get Paid To Review Books

How to get paid to read and then write book reviews when you become a reviewer in the UK

If you have specialist knowledge, have experience of writing or hold a certain position then you can get paid to review books for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Such editorials are sent to them, usually in advanceof publication, for one of their team to review. The publisher and the author get free publicity when it is published, the newspaper or magazine gets content for their publication, customers have something interesting to read and can learn an opinion prior to making a purchase and you get a free publication and payment.


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So consider what you can offer an editor and send a letter requesting that you be considered as a book reviewer. Describe any relevant experience, positions held and published work. Editors will not normally mind you being on a panel for other publications so do mention these and include any cuttings or copies of previously published items. If you have not been published then you could send in a sample, perhaps by critiquing a recent publication and sending this in as an example.





Scan the shelves of a major newsagent like WH Smith to see the hundreds of publications - most will have them in one form or another. For example the Doctor Who Magazine has them for new novels written by other authors and fans. The fishing or golf magazines have them by experts in their field. Local newspapers have a section, usually in the weekend newspaper edition, that is sometimes sponsored by the local bookshop. Some editors will open these out to readers to free up the time of regular journalists and writers and to provide variety. It could be worth approaching the editor or the manager to get onto their panel. I use this knowledge to now write them at my other website www.recipebookreviews.com.




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The Grampian skies are under attack from an enemy jet. It is spilling a strange yellow smoke. Minutes later, people start killing each other.
Former Royal Air Force Regiment Gunner Jason Harper witnesses this and then his wife, Pippa, telephones him, shouting that she needs him. They then get cut off. He sets straight out towards Aberdeen city, unprepared for the nightmare that unfolds during his journey. Everyone seems to want to kill him.
Along the way, he pairs up with fellow survivor Imogen. But she enjoys killing the living dead far too much. Will she kill Jason in her blood thirst? Or will she hinder his journey through this zombie filled dystopian landscape to find his pregnant wife?

The Fence is the first in this series of post-apocalyptic military survival thrillers from the torturous mind of horror and science fiction novel writer C.G. Buswell.

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Getting Paid For Reviews

As an example of my career I have been getting paid for reviews of nursing and medical hardbacks for over a dozen publications like Nursing Standard, Nursing Times and Paediatric Nursing for several years. I used my specialist experience and qualifications to gain the employment and learnt how to write book reviews. This included studying the format of previous ones and adding my own unique slant to bring out features I liked and those that I knew other nurses would find of interest.

I got to keep each one, most of which were worth anything from £8 to £25 and was paid from £10 to £50 for each one. I rarely had to buy one for my work and could pre-order a forthcoming publication I wanted for my library with the editors by requesting it as soon as it arrived in the office.




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An army veteran moves his family into a village, but his nightmare neighbour starts a battle of wits with him. Who will win this One Last War?

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Book Reviews

This sounds obvious but do read it! It can be quickly established in some I have seen that the writer has not understood the author. Don't be tempted to read others, the back cover, contents and index and use this as copy. Read it entirely and do an honest report. People want to know your opinion. It helps them to decide if they should invest their hard earned money into purchasing it. Not all have to say that it is great and they should rush out to buy it. If you felt the author did not investigate the subject matter properly or that characters were superficial or that factual information was incorrect then there is no reason why you cannot say this. What you must do though is quantify why you thought this and perhaps even offer advice. This will usually be of help to a publisher though many authors do take them as personal criticism - they are after all proud of their achievement and don't want to have to look at negative comments - this is why you should always quantify your comments. When writing do remember that real people will be seeing your comments which will include the writer, the publisher and editors as well as thousands of readers.

How To Review A Book

So here is how to review a book professionally. First of all stick to the word limit. No one wants to see one of a novel which is the size of a novel! Stick to the word limits with a 10% margin either over or under this set word limit. If an editor wants 500 words and you send him or her 500 words then it will need little cutting and it could bring you further publications. The less cutting and editing an editor has to do then the more likely they are to remember your name and send you more. I rarely go a week without one to read and get paid for reviews.

This sounds basic but I will say it anyway - use a word processor, spell check and grammar checking package. Type in double spacing on one sheet of paper. Send two printed out copies or e-mail it direct to the editor. Comply with whatever method the editor requests - pamper to his or her needs, make life easy for them and again you'll be the flavour of the month and get more. Do save copies to disk, CD, pen drive, etc.

On each copy of your include the title, author, publisher, year of publication, number of pages and the ISBN number. This information is not to be included in your word count.

Most journals, magazines etc will send you free complimentary copies of the edition where it is published. Start a folder full of these to boost your ego but also to assess, for record keeping and to show to other editors.




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Read And Review Books For Money

There are other ways to increase your revenue when you read and review books for money. If you do not want to keep it for your personnel library then you can earn a little bit more by selling it on an online auction site like eBay or on an online second hand shop like Amazon Marketplace. It is best to do this after it has been published in case you need to amend any copy or provide information such as the ISBN number, details of the publisher, etc.

Income earned should be declared to HM Revenue and Customs on your self assessment tax return. These payments can be offset with expenses like paper, ink cartridges, PC and printer equipment, etc.

Good luck with your book review jobs UK. You may also find the Proofreading and Copy Editing Page useful as a source of additional income and the Free Books page as a great way to get them sent to you in the post or as downloads.