I began at the pace of one a week, then modified it to two a week since the book is relatively long. I had a few decisions to make for example, how frequently to release episodes. Setting up an account, adding a cover image, and creating episodes took minutes. I figured that getting in early with Vella might have some advantage simply in terms of numbers, in the same way that offering an audio book puts you into a market with fewer competitors than print titles. For example, the first book I ever published in the early 1990s (not a novel but a tech how-to book) is currently ranked #22,634,221 in print books on Amazon, which gives some indication of the number of titles you’re competing with in print. Exact numbers aren’t available for how many books Amazon offers, but there are ways of guessing that the numbers are enormous. I figured that a few readers on the Kindle Vella platform would be better than no readers at all, which is what I would have if I kept the manuscript in a folder on my computer.Ī new platform would mean a less competitive market. And, because I don’t expect to earn my living from fiction (that’s another whole article), I can afford to experiment.
#KINDLE VELLA SERIAL#
I did look briefly at some other serial platforms, including Dreame, Medium, Radish, SerialTeller, and Wattpad, but ultimately decided to stick with the known quantity. So I trusted that Vella would be easy to work with from a tech perspective. Since then, I’ve continued offering my books through Amazon even as I’ve expanded to other platforms.
Still, the process was easier than many other online experiences. I self-published my first novel on Amazon in 2011 using CreateSpace, at a time when putting together the digital assets necessary to self-publish was a royal pain. However you may feel about this publishing giant, Amazon has been in the tech business for a long time. (Hey-If it’s good enough for Margaret Atwood, it’s good enough for me.) What tipped me over the edge Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood was originally serialized and two bestselling contemporary novelists, Stephen King and Margaret Atwood, also have written in this form. The trend didn’t stop in the 19 th century. I knew Charles Dickens began as a writer of what were known in the Victorian era as “penny dreadfuls.” I learned that other esteemed writers of the past like Alexandre Dumas and Fyodor Dostoevsky also wrote novels that began as serials. My research reminded me that serialization has a long-if not always venerable-history. In waiting too long to publish, I would risk it becoming irrelevant. It’s near-future speculative fiction that takes place between 20. While The Last Storyteller may have had a better chance than some of my more literary works to attract an agent and eventually a traditional publisher, I wanted to get it out sooner rather than later. I have chosen to self-publish some of my books and work with small presses for others. You may laugh, but impending mortality has been a motivator for me as I’ve embraced the indie/hybrid life in the last ten years. I’m not getting any younger-and neither are my books. I prepared and staged The Last Storyteller in advance of Vella’s official launch, which turned out to be in mid-July.įor authors who may be considering distribution via Kindle Vella, here are a few of the considerations that went into my decision, what tipped me over the edge, and some thoughts about my experience so far. I decided to approach with curiosity and a healthy dose of research and ended up becoming one of the early adopters. At the time, I could find little information about how the service would work or even exactly when it would launch. Like many indie authors, I have a somewhat fraught relationship with the behemoth of bookselling. The first three episodes would be available for free. Last spring, as I was deciding how best to bring the book into the world, I began hearing about the imminent launch of Amazon’s new Kindle Vella platform, which would offer, as Amazon puts it, “stories told one short episode at a time.” Readers would purchase tokens to gain access to installments of between 600 and 5,000 words. Then, a few years ago, I wrote The Last Storyteller, a speculative novel that contains some literary elements but also plenty of action. Character-driven, introspective stories don’t often lend themselves to chapter-ending cliff-hangers. Today ’s post is by author Audrey Kalman ( a writer of contemporary literary fiction, I had never considered serializing my work.
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