Category: kindle vella

My Kindle Vella story lost its crown. Yesterday, I was telling you all about the words every romance author wants to hear and today… well, it’s more about the ups and downs of self-publishing.

And in case you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about when I say that my Vella story lost its crown…

What is Kindle Vella?

Kindle Vella brings you stories released one short episode at a time, available on the web at http://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella and in the Kindle app. The first few episodes of every story are always free–after that, purchase Tokens  and redeem them to unlock episodes. The first few episodes of every story are always free — after that, readers can purchase Tokens and redeem them to unlock episodes. As readers, you can follow the stories you like to keep up with, give an episode a Thumbs up, and when you unlock episodes, you receive one Fave a week you can award to the story you’re enjoying most that week.

Adapted from: Introducing Kindle Vella – Amazon

One of the drawbacks is that it’s only available in the US right now (both for readers and for authors).

One of the upsides is that Amazon is currently awarding bonuses to writers who publish on the platform. But the system is not the most transparent.

All authors are eligible for a bonus based on customer activity such as redemption of free and paid Tokens, Faves, and Follows.

Source: KDP – Kindle Vella

My experience with Kindle Vella so far…

I started publishing on Kindle Vella under a pen name in March (“Why I decided to try Kindle Vella as a self-published author”) and I got a surprisingly high bonus, especially as I didn’t have a lot of episodes and not a whole lot of people were reading my story.

I do not know yet what my bonus will be for April 2022 as there’s always a delay between the month when the reads happen and the announcement of the bonus.

Near the 20th of each month, we’ll post the previous month’s bonus amount in your Kindle Vella Dashboard. We will pay your bonus with your total KDP payments approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which the bonus was earned. For example, if you earned a bonus in July, it will be paid with your September payments.

Source: KDP – Kindle Vella

I am thoroughly enjoying writing serialized fiction. Publishing every week is fun for me. And having that schedule is giving me more consistency in the way I write. Plus, I think it’s helping me write in a different way: I’m raising the stakes faster, digging deep into the characters and I am definitely learning how to write very strong endings for each episodes.

And I love love love knowing people are reading my work. The thumbs up? The polls at the end of each episode? It’s a plus for me.

And you know what else was a plus?

Having one of my story with a crown…

I am currently publishing two stories under my pen name and one of them had a crown for three weeks. It took me totally by surprise and when the crown stayed days after days, week after week, I was stoked.

First, that means readers are loving the story. They only have one crown to give and they chose my story? Awwww!

I have no idea who reads my story (except maybe one wonderful reader who got the link from my newsletter). I do videos on TikTok (flip pages) and that’s it. Since it’s a pen name, I don’t post about in Kindle Vella Authors Readers groups. I don’t share the link on this website. I don’t talk about it on my other social media.

And yet… Yet, people who have never read my other books are finding them and giving them thumbs up and crowns?

For three weeks!!!

How many crowns? I have no idea because the Kindle Vella dashboard doesn’t show that info… (and yet it’s used in the calculation of the bonus. Hmmm).

Those crowns should help my May bonus (which I will only find out about next month).

But… today…. today, I checked to make sure the latest episode was published.

And the crown is gone!

I mean I know there are hundreds and hundreds of stories readers can choose from. And maybe they fell more in love with another story last week. Or maybe I didn’t release enough episodes. Or maybe the episode wasn’t their favorite ones.

I am thinking of releasing another episode tomorrow as I ended the last one on a pretty big cliffhanger.

And the latest episode is getting a lot of thumbs up, so I think the story is going in the right direction.

And who knows? Maybe releasing that episode on Sunday (or at the beginning of the week) might keep the story fresh in their mind as they decide on which story to give the crown to.

I’ll keep you updated.

Make sure you subscribe to my podcast: “A Self-Published Author’s Diary” to find out if I get a crown back. 🙂 And about the bonus.

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ROMO Or My Reality (Realities) Of Missing Out In the Self-Publishing World… – A self-published author's diary: The Ups and Downs of Self-Publishing (and everything in-between)

This episode is brought to you by: a shower, a hoarse voice from dictating, having grand and great plans I had to adjust due to fatigue. All of that got me thinking about ROMO. The Reality of Missing Out. Not FOMO. Not JOMO. The third thing.I thought I'd made up the term. Yes, really. I was really proud of myself. I Googled it. I had not.I talk about many things in this episode, including:dealing with declining profits from one year to another in my self-publishing business;the Kickstarter I'd love to do for Cancer Is Not My Brand (my upcoming nonfiction book) and why I'm not doing one right now, knowing my latest one for # The Leftover Bride audiobook Kickstarter didn't get fulfilled, but this isn't the only reason. I; about not going to InkersCon or the Write Better, Faster Academy digital conference this year, even though I really recommend both. about Ines Johnson's Romance Write Club Kickstarter, which I just backed, and how I'm learning that it's possible to look up to other authors and also not chase what they're doing (still learning that one).about how the reality of missing out, for me, is twofold…sometimes it's I cannot physically or emotionally do this right now, and sometimes it's I cannot financially or time-wise do this right now because it's not the best for my author business, and those are different. And then there's a third thing, which I figured out while recording (as one does, right?), which is realizing you're not actually missing out at all, because it may not be what you need at that moment.If you're going through a hard time, I hope you feel a little less alone. That's the whole thing, really.Links and resources mentioned:InkersCon — http://www.inkerscon.com (I think Golden Angel has a $50 discount code)Write Better, Faster Academy — https://betterfasteracademy.com/Becca Syme on author business phases:- Phases for Author Business: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGX7gDqtvCM – Deep dives on each phase: https://www.patreon.com/beccasyme/shopInes Johnson's Romance Write Club Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/romancewriteclub/page-turner-craft-a-complete-page-turning-story-blueprint/descriptionCleveland Clinic on FOMO, JOMO, and ROMO : https://health.clevelandclinic.org/understanding-fomoPsychology Today on the reality of missing out: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/a-deeper-wellness/202506/understanding-and-managing-fomoQamber Designs (cover designer) : https://www.qamberdesignsmedia.com/If you want to tell me what you're missing out on or if you're currently more in a FOMO, JOMO, ROMO phase or all of the above, don't hesitate to send me an email: authorelodienowodazkij@gmail.comHappy writing. Happy reading.My website:www.elodienowodazkij.com

1. ROMO Or My Reality (Realities) Of Missing Out In the Self-Publishing World… 25:59
2. Numbers: The Book That Had 23 Preorders and…became my most read book. 43:42
3. This isn't a grand gesture … 12:46
4. My Self-Pub Weekly Diary: Some Wins, Some Wobbles, and Absolutely Zero Words (on My Manuscripts) 18:36
5. My F***-It Book: She Had Cancer and Still Gets a Holiday Steamy Rom-Com 17:52
6. New Release Hiccups, Metadata, Pen Names, and Mild Panic 19:26
7. Hi, it's me…a self-published author now in Belgium 09:25
8. Splitting Pen Names & Newsletters (Plus My Cat Might Make an Appearance) 18:22
9. To KU or Not KU My Gavert City series in English? 13:08
10. Dear Meta, It's Not Me, It's You Or My Facebook Ads Account For My Books Has Been Disabled 23:34