Kindle Vella launched on Wednesday last week. July 14th. There has, in response, been crickets. My weird fantasy novel about Chosen Ones and their birth mothers has not rocked the fiction world. There is no over night success. If anyone says this later, you can refer to this blog post for the truth. The thing is, like with any social media app, you don’t know what is going to work and what isn’t. It is all about experimentation and, most importantly, determination.
And also back log. As in, plenty of content to choose from. To generate more content and viewers and its a whole numbers thing that makes my head hurt because, you know, I’m a writer. Not a math person.
I had a very defeatist attitude where I thought, okay, no one is reading this. Maybe I should take it down. Maybe I should focus on Dreame. I already have an established audience there and I get paid just for submitting my work. Maybe I’VE MADE A HORRIBLE MISTAKE AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING AND OH MY GOD I’M NEVER GOING TO GET THIS TO WHERE I WANT TO WHY AM I BOTHERING?
And then I reminded myself. It is week 2. Rome, as the old saying goes, wasn’t built in a day.
Writing is like cooking. There are many things you’ve got to do to make it work, and if you miss one step, it might not work out. So you’ve got to follow the recipe step by step.
First, there is the idea. Then, there is the actual writing part. Next, there is the fixing part i.e. editing. And finally, the sharing part or the word all writers hate: the marketing part.
Whether we like it or not, the books we are writing are products. We have to sell them. And we have to have to find an audience for them. Right now, Kindle Vella’s audience is very, very small. Those that are gaining traction on the website are people that already have an audience.
Hugh Howey’s serial Death and Life: A Biography is trending number one on there right now. Hugh Howey is a best selling author that has been self-publishing with Kindle since 2011. He’s got a very established audience.
Same for Shawna Canon, a genre fiction writer also established with amazon, and pretty much almost all of the top five.
Now, while I’ve got readers on Dreame, that doesn’t necessarily mean those readers are going to follow me over to Kindle Vella. They’ve already got their chosen reading platform. They might not want another. Essentially, there are a lot of factors going into this.
And I’m not trying to whine about this or say that its unfair or anything like that. I’m mostly writing this post for myself, to develop a more realistic attitude toward things. In the beginning, things are always small. That’s just how life works. You’ve got to give them time to grow.
Kindle Vella will grow. So will my audience. Eventually, I might even get a review. Or a fave. And then from there, readers. But I cannot grow things if I just quite.
So, if you like me, are struggling with the website and frustrated that you didn’t turn into the internets next literary darling, keep your chin up. Beginnings are often quiet before they lead to something greater. Remember, this is only week 2. We’ve no idea what will happen in the weeks to come.
In the mean time, won’t you be my reader?
