What: OnlineBookClub will pay you to read and review books, but the pay is a relative pittance when you get paid at all
Expected pay: $0 to $60 per review
Husl$core: $$
Commissions & fees: NA
Where: Nationwide
Requirements: none
OnlineBookclub Review:
OnlineBookClub will pay you to read books and review them for the site. However, the first review you do is free. After that, the pay is miserable given the amount of detail the site requires from reviewers.
To meet the site’s requirements, for instance, you must make note of whether the author uses any vulgar or profane language in the book and the page on which it is first used. If there are spelling or grammatical errors, you need to jot down the error or errors and the pages where these errors appeared. If the book has more than 10 errors, as some self-published manuscripts do, you have to note the first ten and provide the details to the site. The same holds true for “erotic scenes.” You note where they appear and how erotic they are on a scale of 0-5.
Thus, unlike reviewing books on Amazon, you need to be taking notes as you read. In addition, the site has a specific format that you must follow when submitting a review. If you deviate from the format, your review can be rejected, which means you don’t get paid. There are no do-overs. Reviews are expected to be at least 500 words for adult literature and at least 300 for children’s books.
Pay formula
Rejected reviews can also hurt your “reviewer score.” This score determines how much you earn for each review.
The pay formula is not transparent, but the site says you’ll earn between $5 and $60 for each accepted review. Your payment will start low, but rise based on your reviewer score. This score is calculated based on how many reviews you’ve completed, how many (unpaid) reader forums you’ve participated in, and whether you’re posting about the books you’ve read on social media, among other things.
A blogger named Tracey Madeley says she’s been on the site for two years, has submitted a dozen reviews but has yet to get paid. Why? Her reviewer score (0-100) has never gone above the 35-point mark where they begin to pay.
Another reviewer said she earned $806 for reviewing 42 books — about $19 a book. Given that each book is likely to take several hours to read and then at least an hour to review, we rate this as a poor way to make money. It’s also worth noting that while this “club” doesn’t pay reviewers much, it charges hefty fees ($100 – $300) to authors, who want to have their books reviewed.
Social media contests
The other way you can make money with this site is by participating in contests that involve sharing OnlineBookClub books on social media. Since these are contests not pay, any earnings here are speculative.
Recommendations
If you’re an avid reader and don’t mind proofreading self-published books, consider Reedsy. Reedsy allows you to set your own rates and choose the genre of book you’d like to read. If you want to review books, US Review of Books, has more reasonable rules and more predictable pay.
What their users say (from Quora)
“I think the Club is fine for people who simply love to read, enjoy a very wide assortment of genres, and are happy with the pocket change and gift cards as a bonus. Nothing in the world wrong with that. If you’re approaching it from the angle of wanting to do something you enjoy as a way to make some meaningful side income, it’s not a productive use of your time. Just my opinion, of course.”
“They have all these ridiculous formatting rules that have nothing to do with writing content. They promise to pay you if you submit an acceptable review, but the rules are so stringent that you can make editorial mistakes that have no bearing on the quality of the review and your submission gets rejected.”
“Yes, Online Book Club for Readers is legitimate. I received $10 through Paypal for the 2 books I had reviewed. I was also paid $24 for the retweets, $20 Amazon gift card for the Book of the Day giveaway, and a while ago $25 Amazon gift card for the First Ten program.”
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I was a reviewer for onlinebookclub and would not recommend it for anybody. They are very good at finding reasons not to pay the review fees and the moderators themselves make mistakes for which points are deducted from the reviewer.
I also wrote book reviews for the onlinebookclub a few years ago. I agree wholeheartedly with the author’s review of the site. Yes, they do pay, but the ‘rubric’ of what you have to do to qualify for pay is extremely complex and hard to explain. The author has simplified it and made it understandable.
What isn’t mentioned, is that new reviewers very often go on the help ‘threads’ to express their frustration at having reviews rejected for things like putting in an extra line space, or using single quotation marks when you should have used double quotation marks. These complaints are often ‘shouted down’ by the small following of devotees who will tell you that you should be grateful that you’re getting paid for your ‘hobby’ (reading) and to stop complaining or leave. Many, many people do leave, so the number of readers is greatly exaggerated, taking into account anyone who has ever signed up.
Literally, the time it takes to read and then gather all you need to write your review makes even a $20 review a paltry sum for the time spent. And if you’re like me (and I’m a college educated professional with an advanced degree, but not a grammar nerd) it will take months and lots of reviews and time spent posting on the site and social media to get there.
I 100% agree. They are ridiculous. I reviewed 2 books and got 30% and 15% for commas that should not even have been there. I learnt that there is NO comma before an “and” but they don’t agree. No thanks I will rather not continue
Yes. They pay. I am a level 6 reviewer and have earned close to $750 for the three months I’ve been on the site. There’s an extra way of being paid that has not been mentioned on this site—all level 6 reviewers can help with editorial work and be paid $0.4 for every edited review, usually capped at 100 review edits per week. Also, level 6 reviewers get $5 extra bonus for every paid review or $10 if they have helped with at least 90 reviews in the previous month. Again, how high you get paid (which of course is dependent on which level you are in) depends on how well you adhere to the guidelines (having an error-free review, etc) and the amount of work you put in raising your reviewer score. Again, you have wrongly stated that a minimum of 500 words is required for adult books. It is actually 400 words.
Dear max,please i am new on Online booklub..please how do i bold and italize text ..I am using samsung phone to do the review
I just find out about this club and I hope it works
I also agree with the comment mentioned that they are very good at finding reasons not to pay.
Even after one’s payment has been approved, they will sometimes owe payment for more than the stipulated 3 weeks. After this, they will pull out some last-minute reason not to pay. That is after your review has been published for a month, and already has a lot of engagement.
It can be extremely frustrating working with onlinebookclub in all honesty. I would not recommend them at all.
I’ve done reviews for them for a couple of years and am pretty much burned out on it. They also have a tendency to move the goalposts. Recently, they changed the way certain aspects of the review are to be worded. Then you get overzealous “editors” who pick apart the review. One time I got docked for bolding a period at the end of the sentence “I rate this book three out of four stars.” It really is that ridiculous.
I know that reviewing books isn’t going to be a high-paying gig, but come on. I have to come up with a complete synopsis after the book review to “prove” that I read the book. One of the editors dinged me for my review being “generic” with its recommendations. I recommended the book to all audiences as I felt almost everyone could gain something by reading it.
If you can ignore the frustration of having your reviews nibbled to death by picky mice searching for the smallest crumb of contention, you may enjoy this gig.
I am beginning to come to a similar conclusion as many have mentioned here. I have done 4 reviews and only 2 were ‘passing’. This put me in the negative on points and it’s going to take at least 2 more reviews to get me anywhere near Level 6, and that is only if they pass the ridiculous level of standards. They still owe me $5 for 1 of my reviews. That was over 3 weeks and 2 books ago. I just started a new book for them, so I am going to fulfill that commitment. After that I’m moving on. At least I can say I am learning a new skill set through them. Proofreading. Hopefully it pays better and takes less time.