How To Start a Book Review Blog and Make Money

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Have you ever had days when you can bury your nose in a book with a cup of tea all day? It sounds like a lovely day to me, and I can imagine it’s the absolute dream for bibliophiles!

Well, what if I told you that there’s a tried and tested way you can get paid to read books? The answer is to become a book review blogger!

This is perfect for fellow book lovers who can gush (or critique) a book all day, just like how much I love blogging about helping people save and earn more money. In fact, I have a FREE 7-day email course here on how to start a blog!

I wrote this post because I’m a full-time blogger myself, and I want to share my experience with beginners or anyone looking for ways to start a blog and make money—whether as a full-time career or a side hustle.

Blogging has allowed me to quit my 9-5 and finally enjoy more freedom to do what I love, all while being able to pay the bills and save to build wealth on the side!

With 77% of Internet users regularly reading blog posts, there is definitely potential for you to experience the similar growth I had ever since I became a blogger!

Are you sold? Read on as I show you the basic steps to start a book blog!

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Why Start a Book Blog?

For you bookworms out there, I’m sure you want to start a book blog because you love reading. It’s your life, and getting lost in books—whether fiction or non-fiction—makes you feel passionate and expressive, something you can’t always say in words but can surely write about and share through your reviews and personal opinions!

Sure, I talk about the potential amount of money you can earn blogging, but ultimately, it’s all about being able to have more control of your time and doing what you truly love without dealing with bosses or reporting to a physical office!

Speaking of making money, I also have to share that blogging is an awesome career that can have you earn anywhere between $91,000 to $169,000 a year, and sometimes more! It may take some time to get to this salary range, but trust me, it’s worth all the effort.

In my personal experience, I was able to reach over $10,000 a month within my second year of blogging, which is why I will forever encourage my readers, like you, to take the leap and try blogging in your chosen niche!

I mean, take a look at The Bibliofile, which doesn’t only post book reviews but also has a podcast and almost 100,000 monthly views on her Pinterest account, both of which are potential ways to make money, too!

Now, let me show you how you, too, can start a book blog and monetize it!

1. Determine Your Niche

Before learning how to start a book review blog, I first need to mention that a book blog is a very generic topic and there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of niches you can specialize in for your blog to stand out!

So, before you even begin creating a website for your blog, I recommend choosing a book genre you know you and your audience will enjoy, may it be romance, thriller, or even personal finance! You won’t need to worry about not finding an audience interested in your niche. As long as you choose a niche you’re passionate about, you’ll be able to find and build a loyal community.

Another way you can narrow down your niche is to focus on one specific series, such as the infamous Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, or even The Hunger Games! You’re not limited to books, but to manga or comic series as well, like Marvel or The Demon Slayer. You’ll be surprised by the many blog topics you can talk about with just one book or comic series.

2. Come Up with a Domain/Blog Name

Next up, it’s time to learn how to choose a domain name for your blog! This will be everyone’s first impression of your website, and since people do judge a book by its cover, they may judge your name! That’s why your blog name should be memorable (in a good way), easy to remember, and focused on your niche.

For example, if you’re sticking to one book genre, you can make your blog name related to that, which lets people know what to expect when visiting your site.

While you need to give it some thought, I understand that the creative juices might not be there just yet. Fortunately, there are blog name generators you can try to snatch that perfect name. You can also use a popular book quote, puns, or your nickname as part of your blog name, which is unique and engaging!

Here are great examples to give you some ideas.

Literary Journey
A Bookworm’s Haven
Diary of a Bibliophile
Books R’ Us

3. Choose a Blogging Platform

When learning how to start a profitable blog, the blogging platform is one of the first major considerations! After all, this is what can make or break your blog, so you want to pay for quality services… Without breaking the bank, of course.

Now, you’re probably wondering, “How much money does it take to start a blog?”

You might think this is too good to be true, but it can cost you as little as $3 a month to create your own website on platforms like Bluehost.

What I do recommend is to avoid free blogging platforms. While it won’t cost a dime, you won’t own the website, resulting in limited capabilities, such as lower bandwidth and storage, which affects user experience. In the long run, these “free” platforms will cost you in earning potential.

4. Choose a Theme

Your blog’s theme will depend on your overall niche. For example, if you’re focused on romance novels, you can have red elements to signify love and passion!

You won’t need to worry about making a blog theme from scratch, though. There are a ton of free themes available if you purchase a Bluehost plan. You can even purchase affordable themes from stores like Etsy.

With that in mind, you don’t need to spend oodles on a blog theme as this isn’t a huge dealbreaker for readers. As long as it looks good and is easy to navigate and read, you’ll be fine. I recommend focusing more on getting quality content published before the overall theme, which you can invest in later on.

How do I know this? Because when I started, I was using a free blog theme and still got to earn six figures one year later! I only changed it in my 3rd year of blogging, but even then, I was still focused on other ways to grow my blog.

Sure, aesthetics are cool, but a successful blog isn’t all about the most perfect appearance. Your blog will always be a work in progress as you grow, so instead of spending too much time figuring out how your blog will look from the beginning, simply choose one that strikes a balance between functional and attractive.

5. Create an “About Me” Page

It’s time to shine! If you love sharing stories about yourself, the “About Me” page is the perfect place to start.

You don’t need to share your entire life story, but you can focus more on letting your readers know more about you and your love for books. Mention a bit about yourself and add some interesting, relevant facts. You can even share a quick story of how your blog came to be!

Other than that, you can mention your favorite genre and what types of books to expect in your blog. Make sure your personality shows on this page, as a unique “About Me” will definitely hook your readers!

I’m an avid Harry Potter geek, so what I would do is maybe start with, “Hello, you have reached the Ministry of Magic, Department of Muggle Studies!” Then you can mention more about your love of Hogwarts, your favorite book in the series, and even end it with a funny quote, like “I’ll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I’m not there.”

6. Create a Contact Page

Make sure you add a contact page to your blog for your followers, website visitors, authors, and publishers to easily reach out to you. They may have inquiries or collaboration opportunities in store for you!

I recommend making a contact form so you have all the information you need to answer people appropriately. Besides this, include a way to contact you, typically via email and your social media pages.

7. Create a Logo Using Canva

A high-quality logo helps you become easy to recognize by your readers, and the best part is that you won’t have to hire someone to do it when there are platforms like Canva available!

I’m obsessed with Canva, it’s such an all-around graphic design tool that’s totally free and very easy to use. You can make a simple logo within minutes without paying a cent, though you can also avail of more tools with the premium version, depending on your preference.

8. Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas

Now, here comes the fun part! It’s time to start creating quality content, which is what’s going to draw your readers in and have them come back for more.

What I love about this part of the blogging process is how there are so many fantastic ideas you can think of, the sky isn’t even the limit! But that might also be the disadvantage, because where the heck do you start with so many things you can possibly write about?

Here are a couple of engaging blog post ideas you can start with:

“Top X” lists or rankings for specific genres, such as “Top 10 Mystery Books You Need to Read Now”
A series of book reviews under a specific genre, such as romance books or fantasy novels.
Discussion posts about a book you just read and would like to talk about with your community. It’s a great way to raise engagement!

9. Get Traffic on Your Blog

Once you’ve got your content, it’s time to start driving traffic, which is the stepping stone to start earning money as a blogger!

This might be just as overwhelming as brainstorming for blog post ideas, but it all boils down to actively promoting your website on social media. With millions of social media users, you’ll be bound to find a large community of avid book readers looking for a blog like yours!

While Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are the top three social media platforms to promote anything, we can’t forget about Pinterest!

As long as you hook people with aesthetic and engaging posts, there’s a huge chance that they will click on your blog link. Of course, there are more steps to learning how to get traffic from Pinterest, but this is a great start.

I started using Pinterest to gain more blog readers, and today, I have 100,000 to 200,000 monthly pageviews! The number might seem unattainable now, but I’m confident that anyone can reach higher numbers with the right tips!

I’m not going to gatekeep my strategies, so if you’d like to learn more about gaining followers and traffic to your blog, you can check out my secrets from The Golden Compass to Pinterest Traffic!

10. Make Money Blogging

Congratulations, you reached the boss level of how to start a book blog and make money! Kidding aside, this is now the time to start earning and becoming your own boss!

A common misconception is that you earn money by immediately publishing a blog post and slapping Google ads on it. While I wish that’s how it worked, there are many different ways you can monetize your blog.

For me, and many others, our major income-makers were from setting up display ads like Mediavine on my blog, affiliate marketing, and even selling my own digital products!

Display ads are one of the easiest ways to earn from your blog, which are essentially advertisements that pop up on your site for readers to check out. While your ad revenue may be small at the beginning, the money starts to add up as you generate even more traffic.

Affiliate marketing is also an interesting way to make money as you get to earn a commission from every purchase using your unique link or promo code. For instance, you become an affiliate marketer under Amazon, which allows you to review books the platform offers, like Lord Of The Rings!

Throughout your blog post, you can sprinkle affiliate links to products related to the book, such as costumes, figurines, or other merchandise!

Selling digital products is one of my main ways to earn passive income as well. I have a handful of eBooks I made about starting your blog and gaining Pinterest traffic. In the book blogging world, one excellent example is Lit Lemon Books, a blogger who sells cute bibliophile-related stickers, shirts, and phone cases on Etsy!

Continue reading on FinSavvy Panda. More helpful articles on how to start a blog:

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