The 10 Best Jobs For People Who Love Reading

A love of reading is a valuable asset to have, and it could help propel you down a unique career path.

If your ideal day includes a significant amount of reading, finding a career that allows you to be heavily involved with books, articles, and other written materials could be highly fulfilling for you. Thankfully there are a number of occupations that fit this description.

Detailed List of the 10 Best Jobs for People Who Love Reading

Librarian

Average Annual Salary: $50,000

If your dream is to be surrounded by books all day, a career as a librarian might be a great fit for you.

Librarians are in charge of organizing, maintaining, and adding to the library’s collection of books, which requires a degree in library sciences.

While usually, this role doesn’t require a significant amount of interaction with other people, you will also need to help patrons find what they’re looking for, assist them with research, or teach them how to use a library.

Librarians can work at city-run public libraries, school libraries, and university libraries, all of which bring a unique set of tasks and challenges.

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English Teacher

Average Annual Salary: $48,000

If you wouldn’t mind re-reading classic literature each year or simply want to pass on your love of reading to students, a career as an English teacher might be fulfilling for you.

There are a variety of directions you could go with this depending on the age of the students you want to work with. You could teach elementary school language arts, high school British and American literature, or even college and university English courses.

Each of these usually requires at least an undergraduate degree and teaching certificate, and most colleges and some high schools will also want you to have a post-graduate degree.

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Content Editor

Average Annual Salary: $56,000

Magazines, media companies, and corporations need content editors to acquire, edit, and compile written content for their readers.

Content editors are usually the ones who set the overall mission and tone of a publication piece, ensure that all the writers working on it are furthering that vision, and edit the final piece. To be successful in this role, you’ll need to enjoy reading and have excellent communication (both written and verbal), organizational, and leadership skills.

Content editors can work in a variety of fields, but they all typically need a degree in journalism, marketing, or something similar.

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Copy Editor

Average Annual Salary: $47,000

Copyeditors are the ones who ensure that articles and books are cohesive and grammatically correct before they’re published. They proofread, revise, and check that the copy matches any style guide requirements, which requires hours of reading each day.

Usually, copyeditors work for newspapers, magazines, and other media companies, but organizations in a variety of industries often hire copyeditors as well to ensure their articles, blogs, and product descriptions are polished and professional.

If you find yourself wanting to take a red pen to social media posts or poorly written publications and have an excellent eye for detail, this might be an excellent career opportunity for you.

You will have to prove that you know what you’re doing before you get hired, usually through a test of some kind, and many companies will require you to have a degree in creative writing, communications, English, journalism, or a similar field.

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Acquisitions Editor

Average Annual Salary: $65,000

Publishing companies and literary agencies need acquisitions editors to find new authors and content for them to work with.

This role requires a lot of reading and a knack for finding quality writing. If you enjoy hunting for new titles and authors, meeting new people, and negotiating deals, you might thrive as an acquisitions editor. You’ll also get exposure to books and authors before they’re very popular, which can be very exciting to voracious readers.

Usually, you’ll need a degree in English, journalism, or something similar to become an acquisitions editor, but it is often possible to work your way up to this role as well.

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Grant Writer

Average Annual Salary: $50,000

If you enjoy reading, researching, and writing and want to help further an organization you believe in, you might find a career as a grant writer fulfilling.

Grantwriters apply for grants to obtain funding for an organization’s projects. To be a grant writer, you’ll need to be attentive to detail, have strong writing skills, and be willing to do a lot of research (that’s where the reading comes in). You also usually need a bachelor’s degree.

As a grant writer, you can work for schools, universities, libraries, museums, charities, or any other nonprofit that needs grant money to operate.

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Lawyer

Average Annual Salary: $121,000

Lawyers spend a significant amount of their time reading and researching cases, which makes this career a good choice for someone who loves to read.

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of lawyers don’t prosecute or defend criminals and their victims in courtrooms every day. Most spend a large portion of their time in offices, whether they work for a law practice or for a company.

From helping people set up wills and mortgages correctly, to protecting companies from lawsuits, to representing clients in lawsuits, lawyers can have a wide variety of jobs.

To become a lawyer, you’ll need good critical thinking and communication skills, and you’ll also need to obtain a bachelor’s degree, graduate law school, and pass the bar examination.

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Literary Agent

Average Annual Salary: $42,000

Authors need literary agents to help them get their books published and publicized. To do this well, literary agents need to read their clients’ work, which makes this an attractive career to those who love to read and discover new books.

You’ll also need to be able to handle contract negotiations, marketing, and sales responsibilities. Your job is to represent the author and their work all the way through the process of publishing and promoting it, which can last through multiple works by the same author. In return, you’ll earn a cut of the book sale profits.

Most literary agents need an undergraduate degree in English, literature, or a similar field. Experience in the publishing industry is also highly valuable.

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Archivist

Average Annual Salary: $49,000

If you love history as well as reading, a job as an archivist might be a great fit for you. Archivists work with museums, governments, and similar organizations to verify and protect important documents, whether that’s an original copy of a book or an ancient scroll.

Archivists work to collect and preserve items that are going to be important to have in the future and identify and maintain valuable historical pieces. They also authenticate and appraise items for auctions.

Because this work is so technical and weighty, you’ll need a master’s degree to become an archivist. Usually, a history or library science degree will suffice, but if you know this is what you want to do, some schools offer specific archival science graduate programs that would be even more helpful for your future career.

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Script Reader

Average Annual Salary: $76,000

Script readers are tasked with reading film and television scripts to proofread and polish them. It takes skill to picture what the writer had in mind as far as translating the words to the screen, making this a unique job to have.

As a script reader, you’ll have hours of reading to do each day and will be able to help writers and directors edit their scripts to make them the best they can be. You’re the second set of eyes that ensures the script matches the tone of the movie genre or other TV show episodes is airtight and is error-free.

To become a script reader, you’ll need a strong understanding of television, film, scriptwriting, and a bachelor’s degree. Usually, a degree in film and television is a great way to get both of these, but communications, creative writing, or similar degrees will also often suffice.

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What to Look For in a Job if You Love Reading

The type of reading you enjoy. Even the most voracious readers usually have a genre or two that they find more difficult to get through.

When you’re looking for a job, pay attention to what kinds of materials you’d be reading and whether they’d bring you joy or drain you. No job is perfect, but if you despise nonfiction, a job that requires you to read law books all day may not be your cup of tea.

On the other hand, just because historical fiction is your favorite genre doesn’t mean that you should only look for jobs that allow you to read those types of books all day. The goal here is just to avoid pursuing a career that will be permanently soul-sucking for you.
The amount of reading it requires. Many adults will tell you that they were voracious readers until they got to college, where they got burned out by how many books they were required to read. The same thing can happen if you’re in a job where your only task is reading.

Everyone needs variety, but the amount you need is unique to you. As you look at job descriptions, think through how much reading you’d like to do each day for work.

Would you like a job that gives you hours of reading to do each day? Or would you rather just be around books and be able to read a few every once in a while? Somewhere in between?

After you answer these questions, use them as a filter for the jobs and career paths you’re considering.
Your other interests and skills. There is more to you than just your love of reading, so you should try to find an occupation that taps into those other passions and skills as well.

For example, if you’re detail-oriented, methodical, enjoy writing, and like working with and helping people, you might be interested in a career as a grant writer or lawyer. Similarly, if you enjoy being around a lot of people, a teaching role might be a better fit for you than one as a remote copyeditor.

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Abby McCain

Abby is a writer who is passionate about the power of story. Whether it’s communicating complicated topics in a clear way or helping readers connect with another person or place from the comfort of their couch. Abby attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she earned a degree in writing with concentrations in journalism and business.

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