Kindle Vella is Over + Other Updates

Amazon Announces Kindle Vella is Cancelled

Yesterday (Oct. 28, 2024), I received an email from Amazon announcing that they are ending the Kindle Vella program. The program will continue to wind down from now until February 2025, with November 2024 being the last month that they will send out Kindle Vella bonuses.

Let me tell you, I’m going to miss those Kindle Vella bonuses. If you aren’t familiar with KV, it is basically like Wattpad but you have to pay for the stories after you read the first 10 chapters (or episodes). When readers like, comment, fave, vote on a poll, or otherwise interact with the stories, Amazon tracks that engagement and sends out bonuses to the authors. I have zero idea how the bonuses are actually calculated. I have had some months with pretty low reads and a disproportionally high bonus, as well as the reverse (lots of episodes read with a low bonus). But those Kindle Vella bonuses helped me to fund the production of my books. I was able to write, self-edit, and publish the stories and the people that really wanted to know what happened next got to get a “sneak peek” at the book. I got bonuses that paid for professional editing, formatting, and cover design. This meant that even if I didn’t hit the #1 bestseller list with my books, I wasn’t going “into the hole” every time I put one out. I was either at net zero or in some years, I stayed positive for the entire year because of Kindle Vella and their generous bonuses. If it sounds too good to be true, well it clearly is. While I am disappointed that Amazon isn’t going to continue the Kindle Vella program, I am also not surprised. This was a really good deal for authors and it definitely couldn’t last forever unless a flood of readers showed up to the Kindle Vella platform.

Wait — What About My Book??

If you have been one of my readers for a while, you might be wondering what exactly this means for The Boy We All Forgot. TBWAF is my ongoing Kindle Vella story that is (as of this week) 25 chapters deep with about 8-10 more chapters to go. Well, I will continue to post those chapters and finish the story for the readers who want to keep reading it (regardless of whether I get a bonus). However, Amazon announced that it plans to remove the stories in February.

From Amazon: “When Kindle Vella closes in February 2025, we will remove all remaining stories. After this, readers will be able to access any of their unlocked episodes from the free Kindle apps on iOS and Android.”

Now, this doesn’t really change my timeline for this book too much. If you have been following along with this series, you know that this book will eventually be released in full as an eBook and a paperback novel after it is completed on Kindle Vella. So, if you are reading book one or two right now, don’t worry. Book three (TBWAF) will continue to be released on Kindle Vella until the program shuts down (or the book is finished — I might consider releasing two or three episodes at a time to speed it up) and then it will be published as a normal book.

Saying Goodbye to my First Big “Success”

I’m really grateful for the Kindle Vella program. It was a huge boost for me as a writer. I loved being able to interact with readers, get reviews and feedback on a weekly basis, and write episode discussions with my own cringy homemade memes in them, and it gave me a reason to write consistently. With the exception of a few times when I released more than one episode in a week, I’ve only missed one or two weeks. And that’s because I genuinely write each episode, edit it, and post it in the same week. So, TBWAF is not a finished story (although I know where it’s going thanks to my 10,000-word outline…) and I have consistently had to return to it. Regardless of if I am sick, or I have new clients at work, or if it is my kid’s baseball season, or if I am moving houses. I have consistently shown up for these stories in a way that I didn’t think my creative (somewhat manic) brain could. Before Kindle Vella, I wrote with bursts of inspiration and would pour out 7,000 words in one session (usually in the middle of the night.) Over time, I trained myself to just shoot to write 1,000 words a day. Then 2,000, then 3,000. With Kindle Vella, I dropped the word count requirements and chose to simply write that chapter and make sure it was done.

I would look at the outline, look at my summary from the chapter that happened the day before (or if it is a POV switch then the last chapter that I wrote from that character’s POV), and write. When I was done, I would go to Microsoft Word and use the Read Aloud feature that reads the story back to me. Then I would make changes as needed, add or remove sections, and make sure the grammar was acceptable. Then I would post it. With my first story, The Disappearance of Susannah Dane, I hit the top #5 every single week in my categories (or tags) and suddenly, I was making real money.

My series before this, The Leslie Kim Serials, is kind of an oddball and not really made for the mainstream. The people who enjoy that series are definitely my people. I have had 100 or so consistent readers who have been sticking around with me since 2017 for that series. But not all of them actually purchased the books (I tend to do a lot of free giveaways — and those also don’t help my Amazon rankings). So, I have made pennies on that series. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop writing it, but it doesn’t make it a success either.

With the Paige Parker Mysteries, it was almost an overnight success. My newsletter started exploding, I found more readers than ever, and I discovered a new confidence in my own writing ability. Sure, I have had a few reviews that are a little sour, but almost everyone who has approached me about my book has loved it and that made me want to keep writing book two, book three, and more.

What’s Next?

Okay, so here’s where I share a little confession. The Boy We All Forgot is not the only book I’ve been writing in the past few months. As of today, I’m about 8,000 words deep into a new project as well. The new book is not going to be part of either of my existing series. It’s a standalone young adult mystery/thriller. This is one of those ideas that is so good that it basically writes itself, so I just want to finish TBWAF and move on to the next story. Then I have a little novella that I’ve been working on that is related to The Leslie Kim Serials (it’s a prequel from Tai Reed’s perspective) and I also have book four of the Paige Parker Mysteries series already plotted out. Regardless of when these books are released, you can expect to find them as typical eBooks and paperbacks (and not on Kindle Vella.)

An Interview with Sarah from Reading Nook

I also wanted to share an interview with Sarah from Reading Nook. While you might be familiar with me interviewing other authors, this time I’m the one answering the questions!

Read the full interview at Reading Nook.

Mayhem & Motives October Promo ends October 31st!

It’s the last week to check out over 140+ mystery, thriller, and suspense titles featured in BookMojo’s Mayhem & Motives Promo!

How do you feel about Amazon canceling Kindle Vella? Share your thoughts in the comments below.