25 Publications that Pay for Book Reviews

For those who want to get paid to write book reviews, here’s a list of 25 publications that work with freelance writers.

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1. Long Now is a non-profit organization that fosters long-term thinking. Their pitch guide says, “Our work encourages imagination at the timescale of civilization — the next and last 10,000 years — a timespan we call the long now.” They want stories that explore the ‘long now’ of climate change, the rise and fall of civilizations, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, economics, architecture, and more. They accept pitches for essays (1,200 – 3,000 words), reported features (1,200 to 3,000 words), interviews (2,000 to 3,000 words), book reviews, shorter articles, fiction, and poems for Ideas, their living archive of long-term thinking. According to their pitch guide, rates begin at $600 for features and essays and range between $300 and $600 for interviews, reviews, science journalism, and news articles. They pay $100 for science fiction stories and $25 for poems.

2. The Advocate is a newspaper for the students, faculty, and staff of the Graduate Center (GC), City University of New York (CUNY). They accept articles, reviews, photos, and illustrations from the students, faculty, and staff of CUNY as well as those who are not affiliated with CUNY. They accept articles on a wide range of topics including GC/CUNY issues; first-person essays; politics, culture, and art; nontechnical articles on science and technology; provocative or polemical essays on international, national, and local issues; interviews and transcribed discussions or debates; and book, film, theater, music, and art reviews. According to their guidelines, payment usually starts at $100 and caps at $300. To learn more, refer to this page.

3. Religion Unplugged is a news organization that covers religion stories around the world. They publish at least one story each day on their website. According to their pitch guide, their pay rates vary by department: News features (over 1,000 words): $300, Opinion and essays: $200, Film and TV reviews: $200, Art reviews: $200, Book reviews: $200. For more details, check out their submission guidelines.

4. The EFCA blog offers “both proven practices and alternative perspectives for Christian faith and ministry from leaders in the Evangelical Free Church of America.” They accept articles (1,000 to 2,500 words) and book reviews. According to their pitch guide, their rates start at $100. To learn more, refer to their writer’s guidelines.

5. Current Affairs is a bimonthly print magazine of culture and politics. The magazine is “informative, entertaining, and beautiful, and loaded with everything from book reviews to fake advertisements.” According to their writer’s guide, they pay $200 for online articles and $300 for print articles. To learn more, refer to their about us page and their submission guidelines.

6. Planning covers news and analyses of events in planning (including suburban, rural, and small-town planning, environmental planning, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, social planning, and urban design). Word range for feature articles is typically 2,500 words, book reviews 500 to 700 words and news stories 500 words. According to their contributor guidelines, writers can expect to be paid between $100 and $1,000 for articles, depending on length, and $50 to $300 for photographs and drawings.

7. Abilities is Canada’s foremost cross-disability lifestyle magazine. Topics include travel, health, sport, recreation, careers, education, transportation, housing, social policy, relationships, technology, family life, movie/book reviews, personality profiles, events and conferences. The magazine has a conversational tone. They’re not looking for personal essays, but encourage writers to draw on their experiences to illustrate a broader topic. They pay a kill fee if negotiated in advance. According to their pitch guide, they pay $50 to $325. To learn more, refer to their submission guidelines.

8. College & University (C&U) is a quarterly journal by American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). According to their guidelines, they pay an honorarium of $300 for a feature article (refereed article) and $150 for a forum, non-refereed article (commentaries, campus viewpoints, policy analyses, international observations, case studies, and book reviews). To learn more, refer to this page.