How to Become a Successful Book Reviewer on Fiverr

You can find almost any service you can imagine on Fiverr--at least the legal ones--and all for the base price of $5. Ever dreamed of sending your boyfriend a personalized video of a puppet singing Happy Birthday? You can pay someone to do that. Ever wanted a self-portrait done in anime style? It's on there.

You can also find gigs such as editing, proofreading, backlinking, social media support, marketing, and more.

Is your time worth more? Most definitely. But if the gig is something you will enjoy doing and might do in your free time anyway, why not make some extra spending money?

If you love reading and would love to be paid to read even more, Fiverr may be the perfect option for you. What's Fiverr? It's a website where "buyers" purchase a "gig" from you for a particular service--for $5.

While that may seem like too little to be worth your time to review a book, don't be too hasty to judge--I make about $200 a month on Fiverr reviewing books, and I don't spend hours a day or even a week. I generally get the books to keep on my Kindle, so my library grows for free.

Read on for tips on making money on Fiverr by reviewing books!

There are numerous book review gigs on Fiverr, so you need to make yours stand out to get the business. In addition to posting a picture of yourself, since people are more likely to buy from a person than they are from a random avatar, make sure your gig is correct in regard to grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Don't be sloppy!

Also be sure to do the following:

• Cite any experience or education that makes you an excellent reviewer.
• Tell what makes you different from other reviewers--do you complete the gig more quickly? Do you promise a review that contains a certain number of words?
• Include a call to action, asking the potential buyer to contact you for more information or to get the process started.
• State any particular expertise within genres.

Once you're created your gig, it's time to sit back and wait for that first order. (While some people "promote" their gig via social media or other channels, I generally am content to let buyers stumble upon mine.)

If a potential buyer messages you a question, answer immediately. Whenever the buyer purchases a gig and submits the required information, promptly respond and thank them for their purchase, and affirm you will have the project completed by the deadline (Fiverr lets you set your own deadline; I've found a week sufficient for most projects). Customer service is key on Fiverr!

Most importantly, a large part of managing your book review is managing the buyer's expectations. Don't be afraid to say what you will and will not do--for instance, perhaps you won't review violent or erotic novels. If the buyer does purchase a book review gig for such thematic material, kindly request a cancellation or ask Fiverr Help to do it for you.

Finally, if you get overwhelmed with gigs and can't keep up--just suspend the gig for a while. You can put it back online whenever you want, with no penalty.

You still may be skeptical--why should you read a book for $5, even if you really love to read? The time/effort balance is not worth it--and I agree.

What makes Fiverr worth your time are the "extras" you can tack on to the book--for instance, posting a review to certain sites can cost the buyer an extra $10; delivering a gig within three days instead of seven can cost an extra $20; and a one-day turnaround can cost an extra $50. You can see how quickly that adds up!

I review between four and five books a month and make roughly $200, as I mentioned above; sometimes I review a book for less, of course, but it generally evens out in the end. Some buyers are big spenders and purchase many extras, which helps with the revenue stream.

(You must also be able to read quickly if you plan on doing multiple books a week--can you skim a book in an hour if necessary and write a quality review? If not, book reviewing may not be for you.)

If you're looking for a qualified, eloquent book reviewer, you've found me! You can find my book review gig on Fiverr here.

Life is full of rules, and working on Fiverr is no different. The following two pieces of information are very important when reviewing books:

• It is against the Amazon terms of service to post a paid review for a product on the site; this can result in your reviews being stripped from Amazon.
• If you advertise on Fiverr that you will post reviews to Amazon, your gig can be shut down as well--Fiverr doesn't promote jobs that are against other site's terms of service.

Paid book reviews are a controversial subject already, so take that into account before you set up your gig. So consider this: Are you going to let the buyer dictate the tone of your review--for instance, that you must give it five stars? That misleads potential readers and is not entirely ethical. It's best to write honest reviews and be upfront about that in your gig description.

Pros

• The possibility of quick money doing simple tasks
• Getting paid to do what you enjoy
• Ease of use

Cons

• Working for well under what your work is worth
• Frustrating buyers who may be rude or difficult to deal with

You have to work quickly if you want to make money on Fiverr and have it be worth your time. That being said, you don't have to sacrifice quality. Book reviews that will please the buyer and help a potential reader include the following elements:

• A short summary of the book, without giving away any spoilers.
• Your analysis of where the book succeeds or fails.
• Your take on the characters, situations, and plot in the book.
• Similar books in the same genre that can be compared to the book.
• Your opinion on whether your would recommend the book, and to which audience you would make the recommendation (for instance, readers who enjoy horror, romance, etc.).