What the Heck is Kindle Vella?
A few months ago, I received an email from Kindle Direct Publishing telling me Amazon was about to release a new program for readers. Intrigued, I kept reading and found out Kindle Vella would be hosting a release by chapter for authors.
This means if you are working on a story you can release it chapters at a time for your readers to enjoy so they don't have to wait until the book is completely finished. Each chapter must be at least 600 words to qualify.
The first 3 chapters are free to readers and from there they must spend tokens to unlock each chapter. The lowest amount of tokens someone can purchase is 200 for only $1.99. Not bad when each chapter is given a certain token amount based of word count.
At first, I really didn't think too much of the program, but then another email arrived in my inbox reminding me to get your story ready. So, I went to my computer to give it a try.
Releasing Team Lightning Against the Virus on Kindle Vella
During my sophomore year of college, my friends and I decided to play Humans vs. Zombies. For those who don't know, Humans vs Zombies is an interactive game where for one week the town is considered fair game to run after others and shoot them with a nerf gun.
It starts off with one person being a zombie who slowly starts tagging people. Once tagged you also turn into a zombie and must tag someone within 24 hours or else you die losing the game. Hundreds of people play, and it's the most adrenaline seeking game one will ever take part in.
During our experience, I kept video logs(now private on Youtube) of all the planning my friends and I went through to make sure we didn't get caught. It was honestly a blast and I'm glad I did it.
About a year after the game had taken place I wanted to start working on my writing. So one day I decided to write a story based off my experience with Humans vs. Zombies. It was action packed and I had some pretty good scenes set up making it easy to write. So after a few hours, Team Lightning Versus the Virus was born. The story is completely different than anything I have ever written.
I thought this would be a great starter story to Kindle Vella as Amazon is still in the beta phase. Amazon is known to hold off on advertising new programs until they get the kinks out, but I wanted to be one of the first people to join the program. With Team Lightning Versus the Virus beginning a short story, I figured it would be easy to upload...and I wasn't wrong!
If you already have a Kindle Direct Publishing account, all you have to do is click on the Kindle Vella link located at the top.
From there it brings you to the Kindle Vella main page where a big blue button says 'Start a story'. Then you go line by line filling in the details such as author name, title, keywords, story description, etc. Then the best part... adding in your story! Kindle Vella allows you to write straight into the field box or upload a doc.
It honestly takes a few seconds, and once you hit publish your episode will be live within 72 hours after review.
So with all this in mind, Team Lightning Versus the Virus is available on Amazon NOW!
Go check it out! The first 3 episodes are free with the remaining episodes only 7 tokens each. Here is a preview of the cover!
Is Kindle Vella Worth It?
So the big question, is Kindle Vella worth it?
Like I mentioned, Kindle Vella is still in the beta phase with Amazon only advertising to authors to upload their stories. So have I gotten a lot a readers? The simple answer is no. But am I willing to give Kindle Vella a chance? Yes!
It is super simple to set up, and once advertising kicks in I believe having one of the first stories on the platform will be beneficial.
I think Kindle Vella will also hold authors accountable to finishing their stories which is another reason I want to start using it.
Now there are some things you have to be mindful of with Kindle Vella being in the beta stage. Some people, including myself, have noticed your story cannot be found in the category you have chosen to list it under. I have checked on my story twice and saw it was not listed the first time around, but then showed up on page 6 of the results the second time. Until the algorithm and keywords are figured out I'm not to worried about this issue but it is something to keep in mind.
Second, there are other platforms such as Wattpad, where authors release chapter by chapter all for free. Kindle Vella will have a lot to live up to here in the next few years when it's competing against a free platform. Currently they are giving you your first 200 tokens for free which hopefully draws in some people.
Besides those few things I think Kindle Vella will be worth it here in the next year or so.
Final Thoughts
I suggest if you have a story you want people to read try uploading it to Kindle Vella. Especially if you are new to writing. If you like to read I also suggest getting your 200 free tokens and giving it a chance-there are some good stories available!
Go check out Team Lightning Against the Virus and give it a like while you are there! I would love to see it in the top stories.
As Kindle Vella continues through the beta stages I will give more updates on how the platform is performing. Until then,
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