US Review of Books: How to Get Paid to Read

What is US Review of Books?

U.S. Review of Books is one of a handful of sites that will pay freelancers to read and provide brief reviews of independently published books and authors.

How it works

Getting started here as a reviewer is pretty old-school. You contact the editor with a resume, sample work, and at least two professional references. You can send these materials by e-mail or through the Post Office. The pertinent contact information:

The US Review of Books
PO Box 11
Titusville, NJ 08560-0011
Fax: (609) 964-1718

Or, via email at: [email protected].

If accepted, you’ll hear from the editor and have the ability to choose the type of books you prefer to read.

US Review of Books review (for freelancers)

Want to get paid to read? US Review of Books is our top choice (if you’re not also willing to edit). The site pays freelancers to read and review novels. Most of these are submitted to the site by authors, who want to get either blurbs for book covers or simply boost the book’s public profile.

To be sure, US Review of Books doesn’t pay much. But it also has reasonable rules about what ought to be in a review — half summary; half commentary — and length.

Reviews generally run 250 to 300 words and pay $25. Longer reviews of 500-600 words pay more — up to $75.

The site receives about a dozen review applications each day, says senior editor Christopher Klim. “An applicant’s first review is essentially the interview,” he adds. Applicants are paid for that review, regardless of whether or not they’re hired, he says.

Free books

Naturally, if you account for the hours it might take you to read the book, the hourly pay here is paltry. However, if you’re an avid reader, this side hustle provides free books and pocket change for what you’re likely doing anyway. The typical reviewer here will read and review 8 to 10 books a month, says Klim. That would bring in somewhere between $200 and $750 a month.

Unlike competitor OnlineBookClub, which can find a myriad of reasons to deny pay to reviewers, there are no tricks involved in getting paid here. if you complete a review, you get paid, says Klim. The only reason a reviewer wouldn’t be paid for a review is if they don’t complete it. That happens, but it’s rare.

Added benefit

US Review of Books also provides a public forum for people who want to develop a reputation as a book reviewer for their own sites. The site publishes author biographies of all of its reviewers, including links back to their own sites.

Getting paid

Reviewers are paid monthly for every review completed during the previous month by check. Checks are sent by the 5th day of each month.

Recommendations

This is one of the few sites where you can legitimately get paid to review books, without having to edit them. Because of that, we like this site a lot. (Our neutral Husl$core is a reflection of the relatively poor pay per hour vs. the delightful working conditions.) You can find out more and sign up with US Review of Books here.

If you’re a seasoned editor, however, you can earn considerably more by signing up with Reedsy or PenguinFreelancers.

What their reviewers say:

We talked with Kat Kennedy, author of Flamigo Funeral, a blogger at TeaCakesandWhiskey, and a regular reviewer on this site. A semi-retired school teacher, Kennedy likes everything about reviewing for this site. The editors are nice; the deadlines are reasonable; and she’s able to regularly earn $200 to $300 a month.

She acknowledges that’s no fortune. But, since she’s reading books constantly anyway, she says it works nicely for her.

“You have to love to read,” she says. “This is not a full-time job. But, compared with the other reviewing sites out there, this pays pretty well.”