Amazon just announced that they will be closing their Kindle Vella program because it ‘hasn’t caught on as we’d hoped’ – What does this mean?
In 2021, Amazon developed a platform for serialized fiction because of the success of Wattpad and Radish. They hoped to capitalize on the serial fiction market. Always a day late. There were many flaws with the platform.
They lacked promotion. They lacked the ability to allow access to international readers. And the entire business model of buying tokens wasn’t working. Amazon was giving $1 Million in author bonuses to keep pumping out “chapters” in hopes to entice readers.
As a reader, I couldn’t even figure out how to read. On my phone, there was never an option to read one of my stories posted. There wasn’t an option I could find on my Kindle either, like subscribing to a magazine and sending new chapters to my device when available. The only place I seemed to be able to is on a desktop/laptop in a browsers.
When 90% of the world uses their phones for 90% of their life, where was the functionality for this system?
Plus, I couldn’t even locate one of my stories when I searched my name on Amazon. Where was “Good Clean Fun” and is that why I had no readers?
In less that 4 years, Amazon is closing its doors to Kindle Vella – And I do believe this is a good thing and bad rolled into one.
Subscriptions & serialized fiction is not going anywhere. Its existed back when Charles Dickens released “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” with 19 installments running from 1836 to 1837. With the birth of the internet, there is a new era of serialized fiction. I started my writing journey writing serialized fiction on FanFiction.net then moved over to Wattpad before branching on to novels and self-publishing.
With platforms like Substack and Patreon* (I am not a fan of Patreon’s website design as a whole), writers are back into the story telling game and some are making more money than Amazon’s author bonuses.
These are just three of the many examples of writers writing serialized fiction. How do they do it? Well, I would say many of them started during the world of COVID when they were at home, laid off from a job they probably hated. I was not that lucky. Because my boss and the industry determined that floral deliveries were an essential business, I had no extra time on my hands to write. Actually, I had less because the boss still laid off the entire staff except for 4 people – me, my wife, herself, and a driver.
Now, on the death of Kindle Vella… here is why I feel this is bad for the serialized market: Because the consumer will believe there is no longer a market for serialized fiction if Amazon failed at it.
If Amazon can not succeed, end users (readers) are skeptical to pay monthly or even yearly for something that is “going away.”
But serialized writers are not going anywhere. Most of the Kindle Vella authors will find a better platform and will continue to go forward. Whether it be on Patreon, Substack, Radish, or Ream, we are like cockroaches at will find a way to survive without Amazon.
“Good Clean Fun” will find its home here in time… With working a tedious full time job and running a publishing company, I have to prioritize my serials. First and foremost is “Girl/Mistress” and it’s world of drama, romance, and BDSM. As soon as I finish “FanBoy,” I will move back to “Good Clean Fun.”
My ultimate goal is to keep one dark romance and one horror story going on at the same time. NOW… if I could start earning a minimum of $4000 a month on subscriptions, I could become a full time author like these crazy Patreon creators – but alas, I am still quite a way off.
Take advantage of a creepy upgrade: 41% off forever on a upgraded subscription. Help this indie author become one step closer to a dream of being a full-time author by clicking the button above and opening up my fictional stories. More and more added constantly. Thanks!