5 Ways to Turn Your Bookstagram or BookTube into a Business
This blog post contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you purchase through those links. It’s no extra cost to you (and some even come with a discount) and I promise to only recommend things I love.
If you found your way to this blog post, I bet you’re looking to monetize your Bookstagram account or your BookTube channel. I’m so glad you’re here! I love helping people turn what they love into side hustles—or even full-blown businesses! In this post, I’m going to share 5 ways you can make money with your bookish platform.
Quick Discussion
Before we dive in, I want to talk about the controversy surrounding monetizing your Bookstagram or BookTube. Some people think we should keep our hobbies as hobbies and not get “salesy” on our book accounts. I disagree! Here’s why:
Why shouldn’t we make money doing what we love? I was able to leave the job that was making me miserable and now get to work for myself doing something I love. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Being “salesy” isn’t a bad thing. It just means you’re putting offers out into the world that will be helpful for people. Now, we’ve all seen those social media accounts talking about the digital marketing trend-of-the-moment, whether it’s faceless marketing, MRR courses, or some other scammy strategy that promises overnight success. That is definitely not what I’m talking about here today. Instead, I’m sharing things you can do authentically, using your skills, interests, and expertise, to turn your love of books into a business—or just to earn some extra book money.
Expectations
I’ve been at this for over 5 years now, and I’ve experienced lots of successes and failures along the way. I’ve also helped many other people start and scale their businesses, so I want to share a couple reminders with you so you can set realistic expectations for your new venture:
Overnight success isn’t real. Sure, some people get lucky and have immediate success, but that’s a rarity and it’s not sustainable. Those people still have to go back to basics and build a solid business before they can experience long-term success.
There’s no such thing as passive income. While some of the ideas in this blog post (like digital products) are more passive than others, nothing is truly passive. You still need to create products, market them, and be available for customer support.
I don’t share this to make it seem like you can’t monetize your content creation, or scare you away from starting a bookish business. I just like people to be informed about what the journey looks like. Having reasonable expectations will help you stay the course so you can see success in the long term!
Here’s what to do next:
Browse through the list of money-making ideas below
Choose one to start with that best aligns with your current skills, interests, and expertise
Work at it consistently for a few months and then make any necessary adjustments (for more tips on what that consistent work looks like, check out my other blog posts about running a bookish business)
Let’s dive into the money-making methods!
Brand Partnerships
This is perhaps the most common method of making money online as a content creator of any kind. However, if you’re going to do traditional brand partnerships, you will need a larger audience. A good number to aim for on most social media platforms is 10,000 followers/subscribers. You can also offer newsletter sponsorship spots, and a good number of subscribers to aim for there is 1,000. You can certainly land brand partnerships with fewer followers and subscribers, but likely with less regularity and lower rates.
I’ve worked on the brand side of partnerships, so I have a few secrets for how to land them:
Post high-quality content to show brands what kind of content you can create.
Put contact info in your bio. Brands are often much more likely to reach out via email than DM, because there’s a higher likelihood of you seeing it.
Reach out to brands you’d like to work with. Sometimes brands are actively looking for people to work with, and reaching out can close the deal! Even if they’re not looking, you’ll be opening the lines of communication for future partnerships.
Tag brands in your posts. If you have a photo or video, tag any brands that are in that piece of content. (Psst…if they reach out about wanting to use it, charge a usage fee. This is actually how I made my first $100 with UGC!)
Make sure you’re responding to comments on your posts and engaging with your followers. Brands want to connect with engaged audiences, and they will definitely be looking at this on your page!
Create a portfolio and pricing guide. Put this on your website and/or create PDF versions, and link to them in your social media bios and descriptions. This is especially important for newsletter sponsorships. Brands will sometimes reach out about partnerships on social media whether or not you have any information about offering them, but they typically won’t for an email sponsorship. Since your email list size isn’t public, and the content requires people to opt in to see it, you’ll have to be more proactive about pitching email sponsorship spots.
Don’t have a large enough audience for traditional partnerships yet? Consider UGC, or user-generated content. This is similar to partnerships, but it does not require a large audience. Rather than creating content for a brand that lives on your social media platforms and drives traffic to the brand, you’re creating content for them to share on their pages that will resonate with their audience.
Like with the email sponsorships, you’ll want to actively promote these services, as brands don’t often reach out to inquire if you offer UGC. Follow the same tips listed above when offering UGC.
Digital Products
This method is my personal favorite. It takes a little while to build up, but let me tell you—it’s so fun to see that you made a sale while you were away on vacation, out walking the dogs, or cozied up reading a book. I still remember my first digital product sale: I was out shopping for Christmas decor and saw it come through. I was so excited! (And yes, I immediately spent the earnings on Christmas ornaments.)
Whatever your skillset is, I’m willing to bet there’s a digital product you can create. The key is to lean into what you’re good at and provide real value with your product. Here are a few ideas:
🎨 If you’re a graphic designer you can create Canva templates for fellow Bookstagrammers and BookTubers. Instagram posts, YouTube thumbnails, or even email newsletter banners are all great ideas.
📸 If you’re a photographer you can offer bookish stock photos or Lightroom presets.
📖 If you’re a book coach, editor, or published author you can sell things like plotting guides, writing guides, or publishing guides to help other writers finish and publish their work.
🎥 If you’re a video editor you can create a workshop for BookTubers to learn how to edit their YouTube videos.
📣 If you’ve got a large, engaged audience you can start a Patreon or YouTube channel membership.
The key with digital products is to not just create them and hope they’ll sell on their own. It’s important to create regular content (blogs, videos, emails, social posts) that leads people to your products.
Affiliate Income
Affiliate income is one that I recommend to everyone, because you don’t actually need to create any products, making it super easy to set up while you build out your other offers.
Being an affiliate means that you share products or services from others, and when someone buys from your link, you get a commission or bonus.
When you’re sharing affiliate links, it’s really important to share things you truly believe in. If you start affiliating with anything and everything just to earn a commission, your audience will notice and your credibility will be lost!
By affiliating only with what you truly use and love yourself, you’ll be of service to your audience by passing along valuable resources all while earning a commission.
👉 To learn more about affiliate marketing, I highly recommend Lydia Martin’s Affiliate Workshop. (Psst…I’m an affiliate for this workshop. How meta!)
To earn affiliate income, share links wherever you can: emails, social posts, lead magnets, blog posts, etc. Just make sure to check any affiliate program rules about where you can and can’t place your affiliate links.
So, who should you be an affiliate for? Here are a few ideas of where you can find affiliate programs and partners:
Amazon Associates is the one a lot of people have, and it can be a good place to start because you can share things you likely already use every day!
Tech Programs: Think of any software you’re using, from your website host to your email service provider. They often have affiliate programs you can apply to.
Courses & Workshops: Have you taken an online course or workshop that you really loved? See if the creator has an affiliate program! If they don’t have a public program, you can reach out and see if they offer one privately. Some people do offer commissions and referral bonuses for sharing their programs, they just don’t have a public affiliate program. It can’t hurt to ask!
Service Providers: Have you worked with a great designer, social media manager, or other service provider? Ask if they have a referral program. Many people are happy to share a commission on the clients you send their way.
Subscription Boxes: Take a look at any subscription boxes you have. A lot of times they will offer a credit or free box rather than commission, but it’s still worth participating if you can get your box for free!
Want to be an affiliate for my products? Apply here and earn 50% commission on the sales you refer.
Services
If you’re just starting out, offering services often brings in the most income. This is because you can charge more and rely on a smaller audience. For example, you can earn $500 from 1 client versus selling a $10 digital product to 50 people. (This will be different if you already have a large, established audience. In that case, you can probably do really well right off the bat with any ideas in this post!)
I also love offering services because it gives you a really good idea of what your audience wants and needs. This will help you create content and offers that attracts them and converts them into clients and customers!
To start offering services, assess your skills and see how you can apply them to a bookish niche. A few ideas are:
📸 If you’re a photographer you could offer author headshot sessions.
🎨 If you’re a graphic designer you could design book covers and interiors.
✍️ If you’re an editor you could start offering developmental or copy editing.
📆 If you’re super organized you could offer author assistant services (often called PA services).
📲 If you’re great with social media you could offer social media management packages for authors and other bookish businesses.
Physical Products
Another option is to create physical products. I did this for a couple of years, and even ended up with a bestselling bookmark on Etsy! There are so many options for physical products: candles, clothing, tote bags, reading journals, bookmarks. The list goes on.
If you decide to go the physical product route, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Consider material costs, shipping costs, etc. The profit margin is a lot lower on physical products than digital products. This doesn’t mean physical products aren’t a good option, it’s just something to keep in mind.
Be prepared for more customer service. With physical products there is often more that you’ll have to manage in terms of shipping, returns, sizing, etc. Again, not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind.
Do not make anything related to copyrighted material, unless you get licensing for it. Yes, a lot of people create merch for their favorite books, but that is just a cease and desist letter (or worse) waiting to happen. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t advise you on this, but I do want to give you that heads up. Use your own unique ideas when creating products of any kind. Or you can reach out to whoever holds the copyright to inquire about licensing.
I hope this has given you some ideas for how you can start making money with your bookish content creation! Here’s what you can do next:
💻 Bop around the blog. I’ve got lots more tips for starting and running a bookish brand.
📝 Check out my recommended resources, including everything from tech tools to website templates to online workshops.
🛍️ Browse my template shop for Canva templates that will help you market your business and grow your Bookstagram.