Those who followed my blog back in the “olden days” know that brevity was not my strong suit and that I often had a tendency to ramble on. It’s still something I’m working on, as I’ve mentioned in my handful of posts since reviving this blog.
In those early days of the blog running full steam, I wrote several book review posts. During my more recent explorations of how to make a little money in a “passion peripheral” pursuit (check out my “Making Art. Making a Life.” series), I looked into writing book reviews professionally.
Since I’m working on brevity these days, I’ll do a TLDR about what I discovered: You have to read faster than I do (or have more free time to read than I do) to meet most deadlines, and you really only get paid for the time spent writing the review itself, not for the reading time. Depending on the dollar figure you put on your time, it’s not much pay.
Even more“TLDR”: Most paid book reviews are just an extra incentive for avid readers with plenty of time on their hands.
Read on for the less “TLDR.”
Upon doing a little research, the biggest surprise besides the low rate of pay was the length of most paid book reviews – or rather lack of length. At Publisher’s Weekly, the book reviews average about 200 words, much of which is just a description of the story that you’ll find already detailed by the publisher. That’s not even one typed, double-spaced page. Maybe that’s why the reviewer is only getting $25 to write these. But hey! On Reedsy, you get a free copy of the book and NO pay unless someone decides to “tip” you (see again: extra incentive for avid readers with extra time).
I grew up watching Siskel & Ebert movie reviews, which were debates (often outright arguments)
I struggle with calling 200-300 words a “review,” but maybe it’s my Gen X roots. I grew up watching Siskel & Ebert movie reviews, which were debates (often outright arguments) about plot and themes and character, all with interspersed scenes from the story. These guys went in depth.
(Sidenote: I found a great article in the New Yorker about Siskel and Ebert. Of interest is that the author spends so much time on the art of criticism itself, nearly half of the article.)
However, I know I must ride the fence between in-depth criticism and the reality that most book recommendations come from friends who say, “Oh, you like [insert author or book title]? You should read [insert recommended author or book title].”
There may be some additional discussion at this point, but more often than not, the receiver of this “friend recommendation” then says, “Cool. I’ll add it to my list.”
So as I look ahead at writing some book reviews for you here (for free, mind you), I’ll try to thread that needle.
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Paul D. Dail 
Reviews are interesting buggers. I usually discount most of them and tend to read the free samples of a book when I purchase one to read. As for writing one, I never go into the story line. I simply extoll the author’s work. And, my reviews are usually short. Of course, I only give four and five star reviews. So every book I put a review up for is one I enjoyed reading. Negative reviews are not my cup of tea. That being said, I would gladly read your reviews. You and I share many likes and dislikes when it comes to many subjects.
Reviews are tricky. After this introduction to the topic, I’m about to post one of my own that is a little bit of both succinct and verbose. I guess I just thought someone might be interested in paying me to ramble on…dare to dream 🙂
But yes, as to negative reviews, I think they’re best related over a beer versus an online platform. I actually wrote something along these lines many years ago. Interestingly though, after my experience working for the motorcycle magazines, I learned that many readers don’t necessarily believe a review if it’s completely glowing. With some of the newer motorcycles, it was hard to find something to nitpick, but I think the equivalent is a book (or any product really) that is all five-star reviews.
A book with all top end reviews is suspicious in my mind as well, Paul. No book is well liked by everyone. after all, we all have different tastes.