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an honest review... Awhile ago I wrote about Kindle's new serialized fiction platform, . It just lau
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an honest review... [View in browser]( Awhile ago I wrote about Kindle's new serialized fiction platform, [Vella](. It just launched and it's a mess, but people have been asking for some updated thoughts on the platform so I made a video, here's a quick summary of important stuff: 1. easier to quickly publish content, no need for formatting or fancy covers. 2. readers can get 200 free "tokens" and then buy more: first 3 episodes of any story are free, then they have to buy new sections based on wordcount. 3. it's a bit of a dumpster fire right now: you can search by *most favorited* (those who have earned crowns) and then choose a genre, to get a rankings list, which is basically a popularity contest. Right *now* that favors authors with an established platform, but because of of its serialized nature, I expect real winners will eventually rise to the top (stories readers actually like best, not just the best marketing). 4. navigation is janky; there's also a "tags" list which seems to be unorganized; my guess is, it ranks by most recent episode published. This means readers will have to wade through a lot of content; but also that you could get visibility just by uploading frequently. 5. copyright infringement is rampant: since you don't need a "real" cover, people are using stock images, homemade art or random stuff they stole from the internet. I see a lot of art I *know* the authors don't have permission to use. Amazon may clean this up eventually but it's hard to check/approve artwork. 6. do you need to worry about any of this? NO - however, Amazon wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't already a growing trend in similar competitors. There's a market for this, and it's growing. Personally I find Vella less intimidating and more enjoyable, and I want to ride the wave at least through launch and see where things end up. 7. marketing - Vella marketing is like marketing anything else: build your platform, get a great cover and blurb. Focus on clearly definining what your book is and who its for. Suck them in with the first few chapters and keep them reading. I made an image (below) to entice readers into the program, pick up their 200 free tokens, and test the waters with my stories. Normally, I don't talk about my fiction much because I don't want people to screw up my also-boughts on Kindle, but that doesn't seem to be an issue here. So if you'd like to spend some time browsing, or see what kind of stuff I'm writing for Vella, feel free to check out my stories - and if you earn a "crown" I'd appreciate a "fav" to support me. I'm not focused on money with Vella, but see it as an opportunity to reach more readers and get more content finished... and I'd like my books to rank well so I can get more data and figure out how the system works. 1. [poisoned chalice]( (epic fantasy) 2. [devious angel]( (urban fantasy) 3. [busted angel]( (the prequel to the series above) Eventually, once these projects are done, I'll do an earnings update comparing Vella to Kindle later this year. If you want to see more details about how exactly Kindle works in practice, you can watch [this video.]( [facebook]( [instagram]( [twitter]( [youtube]( PS - if you like my covers, tomorrow I'll be sending a 2 hour cover design tutorial to show you how I make cover art like this. This week I'll send out 3, 2, 1 emails on some pressing publishing issues, after which I'll delete about half my list. If you open the emails and check out the links, you'll be less likely to accidentally get removed. [Share to Facebook]( [Share to Twitter]( [Forward email]( Do not want to see it again?
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[Creativindie.com](Â | Portland, OR Location Independent - Usually in a castle or cabin.
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