A question for book reviewers

[adonna]

I'm wondering if any of you book reviewers have considered this:
(from writerfind.com's email newsletter)

BookMuse is seeking freelance writers to write "Muse Notes Plus." These are very extensive, in-depth articles that explore the themes of the book, questions for book groups to consider, information on the author,
information on literary criticism for each book and more. Pays $35/article.

If you're interested, send an e-mail describing your reading and writing experience.
Location: Anywhere
Contact Details: info@bookmuse.com


Please mention that you saw this job advertised at www.writerfind.com/freelance_jobs

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True, it's a flat rate for doing a book piece, but it seems that it's more than you'd get in IS. I think I've done one book review in my time, and just am not "there" . But I know some of you are avid book reviewers. Just want to know if you've considered this, or alternatively, if you didn't know, a heads up.

[jrk]

Hi, adonna!

You definitely got my attention with this post. I high-tailed it right over to Bookmuse to check it out. I was impressed by the writing on the site, even if the content did seem rather limited.

I'm curious to hear, however, if anyone has succeeded in being paid to write for Bookmuse. (Anyone??)

After nosing around on Bookmuse, I sent off an e-mail offering to provide work samples (my newspaper reviews) for their consideration, and I also provided a link to my book reviews at Epinions (quite a few of which were of books for which they already had reviews on their site).

I received an e-mail from them telling me that they had read my opinions and found them insightful and well-written, but that they are asking all potential contributors to provide written reviews (unpaid) on their site first in order to be considered for paid articles.

Call me suspicious, but it sounds a tad too much like a scam to build up their very limited site content to me. If I wanted to write for free, I could continue to do it on Epinions. Am I just being paranoid (again)?

[adonna]

Paranoid? I dunno. I look at everything online as if it were offline. Now, if a magazine were to say the same thing, that'd be a consideration.

It seems to me that what would be determinitive would be the amount of a sample you'd be expected to write. I've done stuff in print media where I'd write gratis till it caught on (a few issues), and it didn't seem like a rip off to me.

Now, if I were interested in doing this, I think I'd make it clear to them that their offer was for a specific amount per review, and while I wouldn't mind offering a writing sample, I would not expect it to be more than one.