My Thoughts on Kindle Vella

Kindle What?!

I don’t think a lot of people are familiar with Kindle Vella as of yet. There are a number of platforms that authors can use to push out serialized content. Some of these include Radish, Wattpad or Royal. In fact, one of the biggest web serial authors actually utilizes Wordpress. If you haven’t heard of Wildbow and his various works such as Worm, you’re missing out.

But this is about Vella and what it brings to the table. According to Amazon, Vella is a place for authors to tell their stories in a short, episodic, format. The site is currently home to just about every genre you can think of. Whether you’re looking for paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy or even adult fiction, Vella probably has something for you.

Why Vella? Author’s POV

Vella has a number of requirements that are placed on authors. The content being published must be fresh content and not previously published elsewhere. Authors can later publish their Vella content into a long-form book, but only after that content has been up on Vella for 30 days or longer.

At this time, you can access Vella here — https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/ or by using the Kindle Vella App on iOS. Don’t go looking for it on Android, it’s not there yet. Also don’t bother if you’re not in the US.

With all of that being said, I believe the primary draw to Vella rather than any other platform should be very obvious — Amazon. Just as Medium has a huge built-in audience, so does the monstrosity known as Amazon Kindle. Many authors are already publishing on the platform, so pushing content out through the Vella platform is a logical step.

What does Vella do well? Reader’s POV

I found Kindle Vella when one of my favorite authors posted on his Facebook (meta?!) page stating he was putting up content. For those of you interested, it was John Conroe and you can access his Kindle Vella story here — https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0977QG7DV

I greatly enjoy the content that @john_conroe has posted on Vella. We can dive into this offshoot of the Demon Accords another time, but I believe Conroe has provided a good example of what the platform can be and how to take advantage of it.

As an avid reader, I am often hungry for any new content from the authors I read. Vella provides a source for that and gives readers a steady stream of material to look forward to on a regular basis. I consider that a win.

So what’s the hang up?

While I like the idea of Vella, I’m not sure I’m loving the pricing model. You buy coins that you then turn around to use to buy episodes. This obfuscates the actual cost of what you’re paying for. It’s almost like going to the fair and having to buy tickets to ride the rides. As a Prime member and Kindle Unlimited member, I feel like I’m being nickel and dimed to death here. I have no problem supporting the authors I follow. I actually opt to purchase their books rather than do the read for free thing anyway, but I want a clear idea of what I’m spending.

Secondly, I think the lack of an Android app is unforgivable. I understand this is probably coming soon, but it is absolutely ridiculous that Vella didn’t launch with support for all major devices. You can’t even read on a Vella app on the Kindle device at this point. It’s not a killer as you can access content through their web site, but it does feel like a set back. I read with a black screen and white text before bed. I don’t like using the white web page as it lights the room up a bit. Amazon needs to fix this fast.

Finally, the lack of support for other countries needs to be fixed and fixed quickly. As an AWS certified practitioner, it feels beyond silly that they aren’t able to serve this content globally.

Thanks for reading.