10 Bookish Jobs I Would Do For Free

I clearly have not had enough of books if I'm willing to do more bookish jobs for free above what I already do.

It's been a long time since I wrote a listicle purely for fun—which is not helpful to anyone at all. What would you even find helpful in this post? Potential jobs that don't pay enough and hence have to be done for free? Things to do in your free time that help the community and give you a sense of purpose? (Actually, the last one is valid. Maybe everything is helpful in a way 🤔)

Things I already do for free: review books, recommend books (personally and through generic lists), mention which books should be avoided, unofficially sell books, and encourage people to start reading. What else? Let's find out 📚

This post is inspired by Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly themed prompt hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Write bookish newsletters.

I don't keep up with bookish news AT ALL currently. It has no bearing on my reading or whatever I do so I stay out of it. I'm also not on social media so I'd have to specifically go looking for bookish news.

However, if I were writing bookish newsletters, I'd totally do all of those things. It works for multiple interests—lowkey research, organising information, choosing what is important/interesting, writing, outreach, and coming up with new ideas often.

I definitely would use the newsletters to hype up my favourite authors more. I'd use it bring backlist books to the spotlight again. I'd reach out to other bookish websites and publishers to do collabs or do exclusive reveals. I'd accept select sponsorships that match the newsletter and the audience.

Considering I've written newsletters for years (although not totally bookish) and I understand how it works, getting into this would be easier. The main hurdles would be not having access to TikTok where apparently half the things happen nowadays and the fact that I don't care about a lot of the trending things like controversies.

2. Organise blind dates with books.

I love the concept of "blind date with a book." The idea is to wrap books in generic covers (like brown paper) and mention the characteristics of the story on top without mentioning the title or author. Readers are invited to buy/read books based on those limited aspects instead of choosing based on title, author, or cover. This is a really nice way to be surprised by books and read outside of your comfort zone.

While recommending books, I often sell them to people with short sentences about the story which is a bit like what would be said about the books on the brown cover. So I'd be quite good at it. I'm not perfect in describing a book using a few points but that's also a given in this concept.

The entire process of organising blind dates with books fascinates me. Choosing the books, wrapping the books nicely, writing just a few points on the cover, and inviting people to try it out. Maybe including some extra things like bookmarks or charms.

I'd definitely try having fun with what I write on the cover. Off the top of my mind, I'd do:

• Variations of "Pick this up if..." and "Don't pick this up if..."
• Matching the stories to movies. Example, "Perfect for Marvel fans"
• "If this was a movie/tv show...": "It would be a 12-episode Kdrama where every episode ends in a cliffhanger", "It would star Hritik Roshan and Cameron Diaz"
• "Best read..." on a beach, on a vacation, with a book club, when you're having a bad day.
• Selling based on vibes instead of the actual story. "Early Sunday mornings with matcha lattes", "Autumns with chunky sweaters and a hand to hold", "Anne Hathaway wearing impeccable outfits walking on the street with coffee every morning in Devil Wears Prada", "The musty smell of protected library archives"

3. Make bookmarks.

I haven't made bookmarks in several years because I have enough bookmarks to read 50 books at once, but I like making them. They can be so fun to make. It's a fair bit of creative effort without being too complicated like crocheting.

Making bookmarks is all about figuring out what to put on a bookmark that can make it a cherished bookmark. You have so many options and they don't have to be bookish. You can put quotes and drawings from books. You can put things that readers can identify with like Camp Half-blood. You can put song lyrics from K-Pop songs. Whatever as long as you can put it on a bookmark.

I would love to make very niche bookmarks that don't have a lot of merch available so that my bookmarks would fill a void. I would make bookmarks about The Foxhole Court series and Dark Verse series. I would love to make bookmarks about non-fiction as well because some have really good quotes but don't have any merch because most people only make merch for fiction.

4. Host book trivia.

This would be SO FUN.

Reading books to make trivia questions, making flyers and participant lists, and coming up with prizes. I'd love to host the event too. I like hosting when I'm comfortable with the environment and the topic. It's fun to host and have the answers, seeing participants come close and not answers sometimes. I'd totally instigate rivalries too haha, that would make it the most fun.

Themed trivias would be really fun too. The theme shouldn't be too generic but should be big enough that a handful of books have to be read and known. For example, a trivia on all books by Rick Riordan, trivia about the Shadowhunter world, dystopian novels from the 2010s, popular romantasies, etc.

5. Host a book club.

This is one of my lowkey dreams, honestly. It would mean so much to have a group of people who trust me enough to participate in my book club.

Either we could decide the books together or I'd come up with themed ones based on the time of the year or the current trend. I'd make sure that we read multiple kinds of books, especially ones that are way out of all of our comfort zones (they would make for great discussions). I'd organise regular book club discussions and come up with prompts to help the discussion along.

If it is in person, I'd organise snacks and drinks or choose a pretty laid-back café to meet at. I'd create meetings in bookstores where we can go around and pick potential reads and vote on the next read right there after 30 minutes. I'd open up my home for some of the discussions too, making it a cosy casual place. I'd work with all the readers to make it a supportive and thoughtful group that isn't afraid of voicing opinions and becoming friends beyond books.

I have so many dreams around having a group of people to read with.

6. Design book promo boxes.

This would be such a cool job to do. I would absolutely love to be paid to do this (and then maybe go on the Career Ladder with it haha) but I'd do it for free too, just because it would be so cool and fun. The creative options in this are endless but it also comes with a boundary.

To be fair, I've never seen a book promo box in person because I am in no way famous enough to be sent one. But I've seen them on BookTube videos. Book promo boxes are an entire box of goodies based on a specific book that are sent to influencers to entice them (and their followers) to buy and read the book. The box usually contains a special edition/ARC/signed copy of the book, a pamphlet about the book, a bunch of book-specific merch (like keychains, mugs, blankets, tote bags etc.), the box itself is usually printed with a book-themed illustration.

This has so much scope for creativity in the best way. You know what everything has to be about (the book being promoted) and you have a limited amount of space and budget—the rest is upto you. You get to choose what goes in the box and who it goes to. You have to figure out what makes the most sense and how to hook in the right audience. I would absolutely love this challenge. Every book promo box would be a new challenge too. (The book promo designer who chose dick soap for that SJM book was on point with the choice, it went viral.)

This kind of creative challenge would make the job stressful but super rewarding. I would loveee to see people opening my box and seeing the reception too. I'd make notes on the feedback and what's loved/used the most to make better decisions next time too. It'll be an evolving challenge.

7. Organise a book festival.

More than the bookish aspect of this, I'm interested in the admin aspect. Organising any festival is a huge challenge but organising a bookish one would make it 10x more worth it.

Working with a team to decide the dates, the venue, source businesses and publishers to put up stalls, handle budgeting and contracts, coordination with vendors, making sure that there is a variety of stalls in the festival, maybe setting up a stage for panels, maybe having a bookish cosplay competition—there's so much creative scope with admin requirements. I'd be good at coordinating with a team and making sure everyone's on the same page too.

Imagining walking through the book festival—watching people enjoy the books and merch and food, seeing people of all ages find what they love and the sound of bookish chatter everywhere—would be so satisfying. I'd love to make that much impact on the community around me too.

8. Bookish columnist.

When I was in high school and contemplating what I go to college for, I dreamt of being a bookish journalist. I wanted to go to university for English Lit and Journalism based on that dream. It didn't work out. However, I'd still do it. For free.

I loved reading the bookish columns in the newspaper when I was in school. My dad tried to instill a newspaper-reading habit in me. I wasn't a fan of the general news but I loved reading Bangalore Times (a Sunday supplementary newspaper with Time of India in Bangalore which had articles on culture—books, trends, lifestyle). I dreamt of having a column on Bangalore Times someday. I forgot about it for a long time but it's still there in some corner in my mind.

I'd write columns about latest book releases in the Lit Fic world with a small critic review. I'd write book recommendation lists based on the season or current trends. I'd talk about things that books teach us. Maybe I'd write columns about the English Lit syllabuses in schools—how it's not up to the mark and often the book choices are damaging for young kids.

That kind of impact is something that I'm trying to have via this blog since I don't have the option of being an actual bookish columnist. But hey, maybe one day?

9. Librarian.

I technically do a little bit of this currently. I am a librarian in my office's library. It's a small library and I have a one-hour shift once every two months. But for that one hour, I'm living a small version of this dream. I recommend books, process new lends and returns, and chat about books with others sometimes.

The actual dream is much bigger. We don't have proper libraries in India so it's based on what I know about libraries in other countries. I'd love to be an actual librarian—be in charge of creating a safe space for readers and students, encourage reading in people by being friendly and recommending books, do the admin work of sourcing books, shelving, and processing lends and returns. I'd maybe help people with things too like finding the right books for study/leisure or collaborating with schools to create programs to encourage reading.

Mainly, I dream about opening the doors to a safe haven every morning that welcomes everyone and provides the kind of support that only books can.

10. Bookstore manager.

I actually would not be a bookstore owner for free. No thank you. Being a real bookstore owner is super stressful because one has to worry about profit margins. I would definitely be a bookstore manager though. Not full-time because I need to be able to pay for my expenses etc. but I'd do part-time. Part-time manager or assistant manager. It's like having the best of both worlds—not worrying about expenses too much but being able to do everything else.

Bookstores have much more freedom to do creative things than libraries because libraries are public spaces that have to follow certain rules. Bookstores can be whatever they want. As manager or assistant manager, I'd love to work on sourcing the right books for our customers/audience, host book clubs and discussions, plan different kinds of events, and foster a place of bookish chatter. The admin stuff interests me too—like keeping track of what sells the most, what people look for and like, and what makes the most profit.

I recently read Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady which starred two bookstore managers. I would totally do their job part-time for free. Even now, if a bookstore reached out to me to have me work with them for like an hour or two every week outside of my current job, I'd do it. Maybe I'd be in charge of only a certain kind of event or work on book clubs or something. 100% would say yes.

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The most surprising thing in this post is how I seem to be drawn to the admin parts of many jobs. Instead of thinking about doing creative stuff front and centre or producing merch myself, I'm interested in challenges that involve admin work. I would rock at organising and running things, whether alone or with a team.

What bookish jobs would you do for free? If you could do any job assuming that it would pay for all your living expenses (but no more), what would you do? Do you currently do anything that is a part of a dream?