Journals that Pay for Poetry Book Reviews

Aside from being a poet, I also write book reviews. I think reviewing poetry collections has helped me to see how they work, how they come together, what makes them gel and maybe not gel. So it makes me better at what I do.

In the past, I've written reviews for Inside Higher Ed, and it was a paying gig. That's kind of dried up, but I've continued writing book reviews for free, mostly to just finish up any commitments I'd made to review certain books. And plus, I read a lot anyway, so this practice of reviewing helps me to not only plow through books, but also reflect on them. It slows me down.

And plus, it's good literary citizenship. And maybe I get karma points?

Anyway, aside from all of this, it's time consuming. To think about what a book DOES and how it works doesn't just happen. I'm not that smart, people (I know, I know, big shock right?). To write a decent review, I typically have to read a book at least twice, and I have to mull it over, agonize a bit, and then of course write, revise, edit, submit...

It'd be nice to get paid, ya know?

So, over the past couple of weeks, I've been scouring for literary journals that will pay reviewers. Because it's a labor of love, sure, but it'd be nice to justify this work with, say, a budget to buy more book :)

Here's my list!

1. 32 Poems -- $25

2. Agni -- $20 per page for prose

3. Antigonish Review -- $50 (Canadian books only)

4. Bear Deluxe – negotiated

5. Blunderbuss – modest 

6. Capilano Review -$50 per page

7. Cascadia Subduction Zone -- $10

8. Cincinnati Review -- $25 per page

9. Flapperhouse – $0.01 per word

10. Georgia Review -- $50 per page

11. Grasslimb -- $10-25

12. Gulf Coast -- $50 

13. Impressment Mag -- $25

14. LARB 

15. Kenyon Review

16. New Letters -- $35 and up

17. New Myth -- $30

18. Room -- $50-$120

19. Shenandoah

20. Southern Indiana Review -- $50

21. Sycamore Review -- $50

22. Three Penny Review -- $400

23. Virginia Quarterly Review -- $500 

24. West Branch -- $200

A big shout out to Jessica Piazza's Poetry Has Value, which I used to help narrow my search.

Do you know of any other journals that also pay for book reviews? Please let me know in the comments, or email me at kghoerth at gmail dot com.