TB here! If you’re anything like me, new things scare you. I’ve spent a week whining to Miranda about why she made me publish a joint series on Kindle Vella. I’m not even entirely sure what it is.
But after my whining didn’t actually solve any problems, I put my little head down to try to figure out what Kindle Vella is. (No idea why they put Kindle in the name since you can’t read it on a Kindle, but more on that in a minute.) To the best of my abilities, I’ve attempted to explain Vella and the process, but because it’s such a new service, I haven’t been able to wrap my head around every detail yet (and I’m not sure Amazon has, either, to be honest). Below you will find a definition of the platform, a link for a step-by-step guide on how to get free tokens, and information on how to find and read episodes of A London Love Story.
I Heart Lesfic would like to stress that if you have any questions about Kindle Vella after reading this, please contact Amazon. If it’s not already written here, we will definitely not know the answers.
And now for TB’s attempt to make sense of Kindle Vella…
WHAT IS KINDLE VELLA?
Amazon has launched a new way for readers to experience stories. Basically, Kindle Vella allows authors to share one episode at a time of a serialized series. Micro-reading isn’t new to readers who like Radish and Wattpad, but this is Amazon’s first foray into storytelling in bitesize pieces.
HOW DO YOU READ STORIES ON THE KINDLE VELLA PLATFORM?
As of now, the platform is only available in the U.S. The hope is it’ll be available to more readers soonish, but Amazon, not authors, has control over this. We suspect they’re working out the bugs before launching it worldwide.
Another hiccup is it’s available via the Kindle iOS app and on Amazon.com. This means you can read the stories on iPhones and laptops, but ironically, you can’t read Kindle Vella on a Kindle device. Excellent naming, Amazon!
Android users can read stories but can’t use the iOS app for Vella. Instead, Android users can access the stories by going to Amazon.com in a web browser.
HOW DO YOU BUY A STORY?
Readers can start a series for free, getting the first three episodes at no cost.
After that, readers have to purchase tokens. These unlock the story, one episode at a time. The number of tokens needed for each episode depends on the length of the episode. For new readers to Kindle Vella, Amazon is giving away 200 free tokens.
Click here for a step-by-step guide about how to claim your free tokens.
CAN READERS ENGAGE WITH THE STORY?
Yep! Here’s how:
- Follow: readers can follow the stories they want to read so that Amazon will make sure they see when new episodes are released.
- Thumbs-Up: readers can give each episode of a series a thumbs-up, indicating to the author and other readers that they are enjoying the story. Series with more thumbs-ups get featured higher on Amazon’s lists, making it easier for new readers to discover the series.
- Fave: readers can also fave the stories they enjoy the most. Once your free tokens are gone and you use paid tokens to unlock episodes, you will be given one “fave” crown each week and can award it to your favorite story. Since they are in limited supply, earning a fave is a huge honor for a Vella author.
Given that Kindle Vella is still in its infancy, we expect for there to be changes. When/if that happens, we’ll update this page to the best of our abilities, but again, we want to stress if you have specific questions about Kindle Vella, Amazon is your source for answers.
