Pros and Cons of Kindle Vella, week 1

I’ve written serial fiction for an app called Dreame since 2018. I’ve got 12 stories published with them. Dreame offers 8% in royalties and their pay is similar to Kindle Vella in that readers by coins whereas Kindle Vella pays tokens.

While Kindle Vella offers 50% in royalties, they also don’t do a lot of what Dreame does for its writers. With a Dreame contract, they offer things like print, audiobooks, games, and other licensing options if they present themselves and the book becomes popular enough. They’ll also give you a sign on bonus for writing with them. As well as word count bonuses for every 50,000-100,000 words that you write of your story. You’ve got to have five hundred followers on your story to submit for publication.

Kindle Vella doesn’t have any limitations. But you do have to either a) have a built in following like a lot of the authors that have already ranked on the website or b) have a lot of reviews and reads to start making money.

Kindle Vella also has rankings and the goal seems to be to get into the top five for visibility on the website/app.

A pro for Kindle Vella is that it does allow for a little diversity in its audience because it offers all genres. Whereas while Dreame has all genres, it does have a heavy romance bent but they do have sister websites/apps geared towards fantasy and other genres. Also, Dreame will provide you with an editor that helps with things such as covers and your royalties agreement with them.

Kindle Vella is still too new to know if its going to have any breakouts yet but it is great that social media finally has a space for fiction writers. While you can make money with fiction writing, you usually have to either a) self-publish, which can involve a lot of start up costs or b) create content on a content not meant for writing like youtube or instagram. With Kindle Vella, it is providing a home for fiction writers online.

Wattpad has been a community for writers on the internet for a while. And there have even been authors like Anna Todd, for example, that have built names for themselves on the website. That said even though they offer deals their paid writers program is set up a bit like Dreame where you’ve got to have a certain amount of followers before you can be considered for payment.

So Kindle Vella is the first platform really built to be a youtube style social media platform for writers where authors can monetize their careers. The app launched on Wednesday, and its only day three. So time will tell what it will turn into.

Back when Kindle launched its self, no one predicted the gold mine it would be for authors. People like Amanda Hocking, who uploaded her books during 2010 and by 2011 had earned two million dollars from her endeavors. A previously unheard of amount for self-publishing. Hocking herself now has a traditional publishing deal, which she got enabling her to do more writing and less publicity on her side.

Another self-publishing phenom is Colleen Hoover. Her first book Slammed was self-published in 2012 and ended up being picked up by Atria books. And let’s not forget the ever famous 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James which James wrote as Twilight fanfiction and then rewrote and self-published before also being picked up by traditional publishers.

Kindle Vella is still too new to tell its potential. For all we know, the next great writer or pop culture obsession could be on there. The key to any social media platform is 1) continuity and 2) engagement. The more engaged you are with the platform, the more likely your followers and platform will grow. Those that make a living off social media know that it’s not just about posting and hashtags. You’ve got to treat it like work. Because it is.

You can read my own serial, The Anointed, on the platform. The first three episodes are free and there are 24 episodes available.