Kindle Vella

Kindle will be releasing a new platform specifically aimed at "episodic fiction serials". If you don't know what that is, think of TV episodes crossed with books.

It's called Vella, as in Novella... a shorter novel. However, novellas are complete stories, whereas these would be linked episodes, or chapters of a larger story, so I think the name, while derived from no-vella is a cute play on the word, it doesn't give an accurate depiction of the site. At least I don't think so.

Writers would create short stories that are part of a larger work. Initial estimates are for works to be 600-5,000 words, with most likely falling in the 2,000-3,000 word range. They would be easily linked together, allowing readers to move from episode to episode to complete the story.

Expectations are that the first three episodes, or chapters, would be free, and the reader would buy access to whatever further chapters they choose to read. There is no limit to the number of chapters... at least that I have found.

There are a few other limits on the content, though. Works that are posted elsewhere for free can't be included. It also looks like a writer couldn't take an existing novel that they have published and then serialize it. From my reading, even if it were "unpublished" from (as an example) Kindle, it couldn't be then turned into a serial.

However, if I were to use Escape, the free ebook for people that subscribe to my blog, because it has only been on my blog, I could remove all traces there (and here... there are a few excerpts here, also), and then serialize the content.

Authors and payment

From an author perspective, it is intriguing. Readers will need tokens. I have seen the number pegged at 1 token per 100 words. And the cost of tokens I have seen is 140 token for $1.99. That works out to about 14 cents per thousand words. Doing a little more math puts us at about 36 cents for a 2,500 word chapter/episode.

That sounds horrible... As an author, I would get half of that, so about 18 cents an episode.

But let's carry this out and assume a 100k word complete work. For ease, I will back out three long intro (free chapter) so, 15,000 words, leaving 85k paid words. After giving Amazon their half, the writer would get about $6. I make about $2 on a Kindle book of that length.

Readers and cost

As mentioned, for a reader, they would be buying tokens in bulk. Their $2 would get them 140 token, or about 14,000 words. And if the story fizzles out, they aren't on the hook for any more than they spent for that episode... 70 cents at the highest (14 cents/1000 x 5,000 words).

Like Vocal and other sites, the goal is to create a bunch of short reads... I would call them phone reads. Five minutes while on the bus or waiting in line somewhere.

A book is usually cheaper, but it is also a much larger commitment. And when you buy the book, that is "real money" as opposed to "in-game tokens", so to speak.

Obviously that is more than the cost of free, like here and many other platforms.

An advantage of paid content, though, is that there should be few abandoned works. Many of the free platforms that push serialized or episodic content are littered with unfinished stories. Creativity dies, life gets in the way, or something else happens, making the writer leave their work.

If they are getting paid... something, anything... they may be less likely to walk away. It would still happen, and readers would need to be vigilant about not investing in stories that are never to be finished, but I think it would be less common.

And, as a writer, it might be exciting and profitable to jump in at the beginning, when competition is the lowest and it is easier to get noticed. There is always the risk that the platform will collapse or the details could make it untenable for writers, too.

There are more details available in the KDP Community pages.

I appreciate your hearts if you like the article, and if you are so moved, feel free to check out my Amazon Author page to see my fictional writing. The newest is Lies and Omissions.