KIndle-Vella an Exciting New Reader Platform

Kindle-Vella is a new and very exciting opportunity for both readers and authors which takes advantage of the trend toward shorter, serialized work. The release date was still unknown at the time of this writing and some of the details may have changed. However, what I do know sounds very promising indeed! Basically, Kindle-Vella is a way to publish one ‘episode’ or chapter at a time. The entire ‘series’ can be as long as you like, but each episode should be between 600 to 5,000 words.

The first few episodes are free for readers, but then they must use tokens to ‘unlock’ the rest. One token is needed for every 100 words and tokens are sold in bundles. Authors earn a 50% royalty on tokens, although there may be other incentives based on reader engagement. ‘Faves’ and ‘Thumbs Up’ are used instead of stars and reviews. Another cool feature is that Authors can leave notes for further engagement with readers.

The content guidelines state that a work can be published elsewhere in a similar serialized format (presumably Wattpad) but cannot be published in any other format or be published as a complete book. Read the guidelines for yourself if that sounds confusing! If you ever want to compile the episodes into a complete book, you would have to unpublish them from Kindle-Vella. Also, one cannot unpublish previous work and break it down into short episodes to be republished using Kindle-Vella. These guidelines may shift with time, but it still sounds quite exciting.

At first, I was excited about republishing my NEIGHBOURS Series using the platform and maybe even MY MOTHER THE MAN-EATER. however, according to the current guidelines, it doesn’t;t look like that will be possible. However, I am considering using it to publish my new YA Sci-fi book! So stay tuned for that if it develops!

Here’s a video to explain more. As I said, it is both exciting for me as an author and also for readers. what do you think?