Hey, so just a quick FYI: this note / announcement on Kindle Vella is my first for the new "weekly" format for my newsletter, which I'm starting this month. Portions of some of those newsletters (like this one) will be shared directly to blog folks like yourselves, but if you want the whole thing, be sure and SIGN UP HERE to be on my regular newsletter list with all the bells and whistles.
PSST... you also get a FREE BOX SET when you do it that way!
The weekly format is just an experiment so far - we'll see how that works for people, and if I end up having enough going on to justify sending one every Thursday. :)
So, on to the meat of this... Kindle Vella!
I honestly have no idea how many of you are even aware of Kindle Vella, much less some of the quirks and limitations when it first launches. If you've read stories on Wattpad, Radish, KISS, or any of the other serialized fiction sites, then you'll get the basics on how the serialized fiction format works.
It was surprisingly difficult to find a good article on Kindle Vella that was specifically aimed at READERS (there are a lot more aimed at authors right now), but after skimming a few, this one seemed to provide the most concrete information:
I also put together this small graphic with some bullet points, in case this might help people get the (super-super) high level gist:
For me, as an author, the Vella thing is kind of an excuse to dip my toes into serialized writing more generally, and to play around with a new way to tell stories.
Unlike a lot of Amazon platforms, this one doesn't require authors to be exclusive... so once my serials launch on Kindle Vella, I can also put them up on KISS and Radish, and even within a Patreon account, as long as there's a paywall (I can't give them away for free, sadly).
Also (and this is REALLY cool), once I've FINISHED a serial... whether a "season" for a longer series, or a full serial story... Amazon allows me to publish it as a single novel after 30 days, without me having to take it down from the Kindle Vella platform.
So that's pretty neat. :)
PSSST... the Kindle Vella store will be going live for readers starting next week!
Only yesterday did we get a (sort of) launch date from Amazon, and it's not really a launch date, but more a launch week. The store will potentially go live anytime during the week of July 12th.
As an FYI, too, I fully expect this program to be expanded by Amazon if it does well. Right now they're doing a soft launch, so there are quite a few limitations on content, such as only writers from the USA are providing content so far, only books in English will be offered initially, and you can't yet read it on your Kindle Reader (but I think it works on most Kindle Apps). It'll probably be a bit of a slow start at first for the same reason, depending on how much Amazon advertises the program to let people know about it.
As Vella grows a readership, however, I fully expect them to expand it to writers from other countries, and definitely to make it readable on all Kindle ereaders and other electronic devices.
Oh... and I'm launching two serials when it goes live next week. :)
I already have ten episodes "published" (behind the scenes only right now) for one serial, and five episodes published for another. I'll write more about those projects next week and give you synopses and links and all that good stuff when it's relevant.
I know not everyone will have an interest in reading in a serialized format––I know it's not everyone's cup of tea––but for those who do like it, or who just want to try it, this should be a great new platform for readers AND writers!
Also, now that I know I can publish my serialized stories / seasons in book format, anytime after 30 days following their completion, most of my previous misgivings are gone, frankly. Whatever else happens, I can still share these stories with ALL of my readers at some point, which was my only real concern before. So even those of you who don't like reading in serial format, you'll still get to read the books not long after they're completed.
In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions about it, and I'll do my best to answer! There's a lot we writers don't know yet, either, but we've been asking a lot of questions of Amazon and sharing what we can.
It's mostly a placeholder right now, but at least you can see the shiny new covers for my upcoming serials! :)
Oh, and I plan to release new episodes at least once (hopefully 2-3x) a week for both serials. One will release on Sundays and the other on Thursdays (or, if I can manage, both will release on both days, and possibly Tuesdays...).
I'll have to see how it goes with the novel writing, etc.
So I don't want to bury you in too much info on all of this, the very first time I write about it. For the same reason, I think I'll leave things here for now. I just wanted to give everyone some basic information and a head's up, since it's coming next week!
Oh, and the two covers on the graphics above are the first 2 serials I have published so far. :)
Hope you all get a chance to check it out, in any case.
And if you DO like serials, I really hope you enjoy the two I'm launching next week!
Have a fabulous end of week and weekend!
Love and light to all...
