I see this question come up SO often on social media, especially among my mutuals - "I'm a book influencer with a small to medium following, how much should I charge?" And the answer is...complicated.
Part of the problem is that for the book world, this is uncharted territory. ARCs used to be sent to other authors and book owners, or friends of the publishers. Now people send requests through email, Netgalley, BookishFirst, Edelweiss, and many other ARC sites. Getting free ARCs isn't hard anymore. So now, publishers and self-promoting indie authors are looking to get more bang for their buck. ARCs are expensive to produce, and they don't want to send them to people they may not get a review from.
Not only that, but we also have a slew of other things we can promote. Bookish goodies, subscription boxes, audiobook services, the list goes on. And it takes WORK to create creative content, edit it, post it to every applicable social media site, and stay engaged with our audiences to grow our followings. Not to mention that 99.9999999% of us do it as a hobby and probably end up in a deficit because we buy far more books than we make as content creators!
So how much do you charge? At first, I personally came up with a structure I used to price goods in my Etsy shop, long long ago when my kids had eczema and I was making soap and lotions for them and selling the excess on the side. Ah, hyperfixations. Basically, I took my material cost (not really applicable for a lot of content creators, but I do have this site you're reading on, and I do pay the host, Wix, a yearly fee for that, so I do have cost.) And then I added in my time at a reasonable hourly wage. Time to research, create, edit, post, and engage. Now, I've never been paid to read a book, so I haven't added that time. Within this community, that's seen as a no-no. We don't read for profit, after all, we read for enjoyment. People want to know how much we honestly enjoyed something, unbiased by the possibility of a payout.
But now, my following has reached a nice medium size, large enough to have some significant reach of the algorithm is on my side that day, and small enough to stay really engaged with some amazing people I've met via bookish socials. So how much should I charge?
Another problem is that there is no creators union. Nothing to protect us, nobody to review our contracts. But we are a COMMUNITY. Let's USE THAT!!!
I've come up with a solution. Use the form button below and fill out your most recent paid promotion deal. I will post, anonymously, the information here, so that other creators can reference what brands/types of products are paying other people. I promise to never share that information, ever, with anyone. I want this to be a resource for my fellow content creators. A place for us to be able to share information and protect each other. I plan to create it in chart format so that you can really see what brands are paying other influencers of your size.
Once I've got some data to share, I will edit this post and share it below. Please feel free to come do the form again any time you have a new brand deal! Bookmark this page and come back to share and to learn. Thank you in advance to everyone who participates!