Being a Reader in today’s day and age is solid gold.
Because this is one hobby/skill that will never go away – and with time, it becomes more and more precious.
I do have a lifestyle blog and I have published a few lists containing books.
Only when those posts made me ad revenue and affiliate revenue did I believe that there was potential in this.
2 years ago, I got a coaching client who wanted to start a book blog.
I checked in on her a few months later and her blog was getting almost half a million pageviews.
Please note: She put in solid hard work and she really honed in on her niche. I will not reveal her website because her niche is very good and I don’t want people to target or copy her posts.
I’ve had 2 more clients and both of them also have very, very pretty book blogs.
I’ve actually seen this niche work, repeatedly.
They make money via:
- Ads on their blog (recurring pageviews give them a solid monthly income)
- Affiliate marketing (every time someone clicks on their Amazon link and buys the book from Amazon, they make commissions, so it’s pretty stable as well)
- Product sales (they make different products (book planners, stickers, etc and sell those separately)
- Sponsored posts (Authors send them books for free and pay them to review it on their website once traffic is pouring in)
This is one of the BEST ways to make money – especially if you LOVE to read and do it every day.
So, now the question is, why not do it, to get paid?
That’s why I’m writing this post.
I’ll delve into how you can start a book blog that makes you money on autopilot.
Ready?
Let’s begin!
What is a Book Blog?
A Blog is a Website that is regularly updated with any type of content (usually text and/or video) displayed in reverse chronological order that either educates or entertains the reader.
A Book Blog revolves around the books you read.
There are limitless opportunities for your book blog.
You can review books, make lists of books similar to a certain book, or just group books under categories so people can find more books to read.
Every time I read a book (I’ve already read around 90 this year), I like to read people’s reviews and gush about the book. Sometimes a book will move me so much that I’d want to read more books similar to the one I’ve just read.
Either way, it’s such a wonderful way to connect with people who share the same love for books.
Can I make money with a Book blog?
Short answer – yes!
If you can start a book blog and get traffic to it each month, you will make money with your blog.
A few ways of doing that are via:
- Ads: Once your blog gets enough traffic, you can directly apply to an Ad company and make money with your traffic.
- Affiliate Marketing: You can talk about books, and if someone purchases via your link, you will get paid a commission! Most blogs start making money via affiliate marketing.
- Sponsored posts: New authors find it very difficult to get eyes on their books. So, they want to reach out to people with big followings and pay them for reviews.
- Merchandise: You can sell any type of product (even bookmarks if you’re able to design them or pay someone to do that) and make money.
You can read how bloggers make money with their blogs here. I will be giving more examples further along in this post.
Are book blogs profitable? How much do book blogs earn?
A blogger can earn upwards of $5-10K/month if they’ve been blogging for 4-5 years.
An average blogger can earn anywhere between $500-$1K/month after blogging for at least 1-2 years.
The numbers are so vague because monetizing your blog depends on various factors.
There is no fixed amount to how much a blogger can earn.
I’ll give you a scenario of how much a book blogger can earn after 1 year of blogging.
After one year of blogging, if you are consistent, you can hope to make upwards of $500-$1000 monthly on ads alone. Then you can expect to make $200+ monthly via affiliate marketing.
People will buy books on your website by clicking Amazon links and you’ll earn flat commissions for each sale.
Apart from that, you can take sponsorships – where you are paid to read books and write reviews.
Or you can sell other services related to reading and writing and earn a whole lot more.
Some book bloggers hire designers to create bookmarks and other merchandise and then sell those in their shops. The possibilities are endless.
On average, it is possible to make over $2-5K if you are very consistent and understand how to make money.
The sky really is the limit.
The main benefit of starting a book blog is getting paid to do what you love doing
All my life, I’ve believed that it is possible to make money doing what you love doing.
For a long time, I had an art blog that I drew and uploaded tutorials to.
After earning a lot of recurring ad-revenue every month, I finally sold it a few months ago and made a huge chunk of cash. I put in my savings account and it’s now fetching me good interest every month.
I also love reading, so I do plan to start a book blog in the future.
This post includes affiliate links to products I truly (from the bottom of my heart) recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small percentage which I will use to buy my poor dogs food.
1. Choose your Main niche
When you create a Book Blog, have a main niche that you will be talking about.
If you love reading Fantasy books – then let the blog revolve around that mainly.
If you can’t get enough of Science Fiction or Thrillers – then that can be the main focus of your bog.
People love consistency and your website will rank higher (and get you more readers) when it’s very focused. People will be drawn to you when they know you have similar tastes to them.
It will become easier to grow.
You would have noticed the same thing on Instagram.
I follow a few book readers and they usually revolve around certain niches.
I love this lady – she mainly covers Horrors and Thrillers – and it’s quite an interesting concept.
You’ll see that most Accounts grow faster when they are focused on one type of post.
Google as a Search Engine works pretty much the same way.
If you understand how SEO works as a book author, you will be ahead of most in your field- I guarantee that.
2. Choose a name for your new Book Blog
You don’t have to break your head about this.
It just needs to feel authentic to you.
If you’ve had an Instagram account for a while, chances are you already have a brand name. You can use your name too!
No biggie.
For this blog, I decided to go with Stray Curls because I have curly hair, and at the time, I was publishing curly-hair comics.
The name stuck, and it’s officially my Brand Name.
3. Choose a Domain Name
A domain name is your website URL.
E.g.: (www.google.com or www.yahoo.com or www.straycurls.com) and your hosting is the space where your website will live – imagine it as a house where your little blog is going to stay.
First, we will name your Blog baby and then buy it a house for it to stay in.
How to come up with a good Domain Name?
The first step in choosing a domain name is to not fret about it too much.
Here are a few tips on choosing a good name:
- Never keep your domain name too long. It will become confusing for repeat visitors. Write it down on a piece of paper to see if it looks okay first.
- Make sure that your domain is easy to spell.
- Choose a .com because it’s universal and won’t become confusing.
- For inspiration, look up your competitors who have book blogs. Do not keep it similar to theirs; you want to stand out!
- When all else fails, go with your own name. See how Maryse is rocking her Blog.
- Think of what you want to be remembered for and use words that resonate with that!
You can check the availability of your domain here: Please remember that people will love your blog no matter what your domain name is because they’re coming to see your books.
Book blogging isn’t profitable unless you’re a big media-run site like Book Riot. Authors *don’t* pay you to review their books on your blog, and publishers expect you to promote books for free as if your life depends on it. They won’t pay you unless you’re a major influencer or media site, and even then they don’t really.
The book industry relies heavily on free marketing by book lovers who are simply joyful for having received a free book.
Actually, asking for payment gets you blacklisted by some publishers and authors will simply remember your name/pass it on, then talk crap about you on social media without mentioning your name at your audacity for asking for payment.
It sounds awesome, but your best bet is honestly display advertising as soon as your blog gets enough traffic — if your bounce rate doesn’t scare a decent network off, because book blogs have some of the highest bounce rates.
That’s not even considering how many in the book blogging community abhorrently detest when someone tries to make money book blogging. 🥴
I’m surprised you put this out without actually having tried your hand at book blogging, because I thought you blogged from experience, but this post is obvious to someone who has had a book blog that you don’t have it/aren’t familiar with this niche.
Hi Jane,
Thank you for your input, I realized that the sentence needed to be modified so I have. But I still maintain that it’s possible to do paid-reviews.
I actually have a client who used to get around 500K pageviews a month and she’s now much higher. Mind you, she reads only a specific genre of books. During our coaching calls, she told me that she gets multiple sponsorships from authors (and also through other companies who market books). People also pay for link/banner insertions in certain posts around certain lists. For instance, if she had a post saying “10 Thrillers Where the Protagonist Dies,” she actually gets inquiries asking her to insert an additional book for a certain amount of money.
She has NEVER asked for a payment till now. But when she’s been offered money, she’s considered it. And because she’s grown her email list, she also has people paying her to insert books in them as well.
Please note I am not talking about the free books she has received to publish reviews about – because I only wanted to cover the income sources from book blogging.
I still maintain that ad/affiliate revenue are the best income sources, but I wanted to include all the possibilities so people have a fair idea of how to diversify if they want to.
Also, some opportunities do come to bigger bloggers, nobody is saying no. But what is the harm in including it as a tip? Especially if your traffic is very high and you’re targeting only a specific niche?
I will never publish a post without actually researching it or talking to people who are in the niche.
I always believed it wasn’t profitable, but after actually seeing a few bloggers managing to do it, I know for a fact it is.
Every field has its pros and cons. If bloggers attract hate because they require to be paid for inserting links/publishing a review, they really shouldn’t care. There are plenty who would actually pay for link insertions and it’s upto the discretion of the Blogger. The blogger who I am talking about was really spoilt for choice, so she used to only mention books that she actually liked after she read them because she wanted to build trust with her readers.
Yes, book blogs have the highest bounce rate – and right now, bounce rate doesn’t matter. It was a statistic most people cared about some time ago, not anymore. Book bloggers are putting quizzes on their blog to get emails and build their email list which helps retain readers so they’re diversifying their traffic too.
Hi Angela, I am a book blogger and I really loved your post. And I appreciate your reply to the comment too. Also, you’re absolutely right about bounce rate. It doesn’t matter at all. I have very good rpm even though my bounce rate is high.
Thank you so much Stephy. Also, might I just add that your book blog is adorable? That’s awesome. Yes, bounce rate doesn’t matter anymore! And it tends to be quite high now because most of bloggers’ traffic comes from Pinterest now. Let me know if you ever have any questions – always happy to help!
Hi Angela, is it too late to start a self improvement lifestyle blog (Journaling, life lessons, personal growth, productivity, thoughtful gift ideas, etc) in 2025? If not, how can I make money with it.
Hey Dreamy, not at all. I just started another website this year – websites continue to thrive and do well – even now! Once you start getting traffic, you can monetize with ads and affiliate marketing. Check out my posts for more help:
https://www.straycurls.com/make-money-blogging/
https://www.straycurls.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-money-blogging/
https://www.straycurls.com/how-to-make-your-first-100-blogging/
Hope this helps!
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Warm regards,
Angela