always be publishing

Kindle Vella at Always Be Publishing

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Kindle Vella sample title page

Over at my Substack newsletter, I’ve posted a broad summary of what we know about Amazon’s newest publishing platform, Kindle Vella. A quick summary:

Kindle Vella is a new pay-as-you-go platform for serialized fiction. …

Vella is structured for publishing stories one “episode” at a time. Amazon doesn’t use the word “chapter”—I’ll discuss this below—but, for now, that’s a handy way to think of Vella’s episodes.

Each episode is 600 to 5,000 words. (Amazon’s numbers are so specific, I assume this range is enforced by their software.) Readers can read the first three episodes of a story for free.

If they want to continue reading, readers purchase Vella tokens to unlock additional episodes.

Will I be writing for Kindle Vella? I’m not certain yet. Serialized fiction is more than releasing a new chapter every week. Writers like Dickens and Armistead Maupin succeeded with serializations because they understood how to feed readers details a drop or two at a time, and keep them wanting for more. It’s an art that seemed lost until recently, when episodic fiction began to make a comeback online.

I’ve written before that I see self-publishing as an experiment, and so this is one more experiment I’m considering. We’ll see.

Read more about what Kindle Vella is and is not over at Always Be Publishing.


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The latest at Always Be Publishing

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If you’re a writer and not checked out my Substack newsletter, Always Be Publishing, you might give it a go. Since I last wrote about it here, I’ve released a few more posts on writing and publishing in the digital age.

Recent topics include

You can find a list of the posts I’ve made so far at the archive. If you’re interested in a free subscription to receive new posts straight to your inbox, here’s where you can start.


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“Always Be Publishing” at Substack

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I recently started a new site at Substack, a blog platform with email subscription service. I call it Always Be Publishing.

What’s it about? Why did I start another blog? Some answers are in my introductory post:

Always Be Publishing is about the business and practical side of being a self-publishing writer. …

Six years ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed about offering advice to anyone about self-publishing, other than “You might look into it.” Today, I feel more confident about what I know and what I don’t know. I’ve also learned from the various mistakes I’ve made.

That’s why I started Always Be Publishing. It’s for people interested in the independent publishing revolution, but don’t know where to start, writers already self-publishing and seeking perspectives on how to grow their readership, and people who are looking for encouragement to keep writing and not give up…

You can find a list of the posts I’ve made so far at the archive. If you’re interested in subscribing, here’s where you can start.


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