I Fell in Love... With Kindle Vella

I’ve been a writer and editor for decades. In fact, I’ve done so many jobs in the publishing industry, one wonders why I haven’t published more of my own work by now. Seems like that would be a logical step for any writer.

So, what always stopped me? Well, the rewards were just never strong enough, I guess. The actual process of writing, too often unenjoyable. Sometimes I loathed sitting down and struggling with the words. I had the ideas and loved brainstorming and researching but pounding away on a keyboard was just too tiresome and time-consuming. I didn't have the passion for the work.

I enjoyed editing books for other authors, though, a lot more than editing my own writing. I even enjoyed marketing books for them. Certainly, I loved brainstorming when I worked for publishers who were looking for creative ideas.

And, mercy, I love reading more than anything. I could sit and read all day long!

Even after 15 years of participating in National Novel Writing Month and Book-in-a-Week, resulting in more than 30 unpublished manuscripts, I never managed to get much of anything off my desk. Except for a short story anthology to test the KDP free book program and that was years ago.

So why the sudden interest in Kindle Vella? Curiosity about new things maybe. It was mostly my love of reading romance that led me there via a Facebook friend. I shared gardening and cooking conversations with this person, and she mentioned her latest writing project on Kindle Vella. I knew she’d be a good writer having read her social media conversations, and since the romance novel she was promoting had three chapters free, I tried it out.

It took a split second to fall in love with the platform. I read a lot on gadgets and the formatting in the Kindle Vella book is easy on the eyes. The book was good, too. Each episode had a definite story arc and a bit of a cliffhanger ending. I enjoyed the first few chapters of Duty to Love immediately.

Still, I was ambivalent about the serialization aspect. When I want to read, I don’t want to wait for the next chapter. It felt too much like a soap opera.

And boom! Right there is where the light came on. I was thinking like a reader instead of a writer. Kindle Vella was making waves precisely because many readers DO like a serialized read. We're busy, we're distracted, we have gadgets we can use standing in line at the grocery story, or passengers in a car, or a quick chapter before bed. Fast, snappy chapters are just the thing.

So, then I seriously began pondering how I could use KV for my own waiting stories. Revising and editing wasn’t a problem. I could tackle that easily enough. I’d have to suck it up to do all that formatting for e-books though. Right? Memories of putting together that KDP anthology were not pleasant, even with all the help I had from other contributing authors. Was I ready to torture myself with that again, at this point in my life? I didn’t even know if I still had an Amazon KDP account.

So, I checked, and I did, and wonder of wonders – the Kindle Vella platform was attached to KDP and ready to use. Wow. One hurdle down, and now what?

I needed a polished story, of course. My REAL Princess stories were fairly-well developed, though more along the lines of a picture book. I would have to expand the writing to a middle-grade chapter book, which was easy enough. I spent the first half of January revising and loving the process for the first time in my writing life. Before long I had a book. I even had a cover ready to go.

Then I took a deep breath when it was time to upload to Vella. I was a little terrified.

Oh, my God, it was so easy! I just pasted each chapter into its own text window in a separate “episode” file. That gave me the chance to proofread one more time. (Of course, I caught a few more glitches.) Then I hit preview the first time, and got goosebumps, seeing exactly how my story would appear on someone’s cell phone or Kindle. Even the little graphic was a snap. (More on Vella book covers in another post.) The entire process was incredibly fast and simple and rolled out as smooth as satin.

I had zero reservations about hitting publish on ten chapters in a row. The following week, I’d published a book that had been languishing for years! And you know what? It felt great. Give it a peek here and share with any child you know who might covet their very own horse. Remember, the first three chapters are always free.

Well, guess what happened next. I decided a little romance novella could release on Valentine’s Day, so I dug out a backstory I had written years ago as a character exploration for a mystery series. It turns out there were some decent scenes (or maybe not-so-decent since some of the explorations were a little spicey), and, with a little more plotting, I could make it a readable story.

Then I fell in love all over again, this time with my characters. I jumped into that story and hardly climbed out to eat for a solid week. I am still obsessed with these people, so much so that I boldly hit publish on the first two chapters even as I frantically continued revising the rest of the story. That might sound like a crazy thing to do, and certainly it’s a bit stressful, but it’s not uncommon among Vella writers. In a way, we really are like soap opera script writers, and I am okay with that. More than okay, really. It fuels my writing energy, and in a curious way, keeps me focused.

Have I mentioned that I love Kindle Vella?

Did I tell you how easy it is?

Now I look forward to writing when I get up in the morning. What a change for me.

For the first time I can remember, the writing is its own reward. I have three tubs of wordy papers that I now view as treasure chests filled with slightly tarnished gold, just waiting for a polish. Two fat manuscripts that need revision. More children’s books in two well-thought-out series. I am not even counting the folders full of ideas for other novels, complete with story boards, mind maps, character studies, and bits of dialogue as they popped into my head. Three big tubs full of writing. It's rather mind-boggling to sift through it all. Wow, I have cranked out a lot of work. Maybe it’s not brilliant writing, but its mine, and I liked creating it. Isn’t that a gift in itself?

I can’t wait to publish more on this new platform. Which brings me to my last hurdle: Making money. I stopped pitching to publishers forever ago after more than a few rejections because it all took so damn long! First hearing back from the publisher, then going through the endless process of revisions and printing, and maybe finally some piddly royalties a year or more down the road. Was it worth it, just to hold that new book in your hand? Not for me, apparently.

But this immediacy with Kindle Vella works for me, and, on top of it, Amazon is putting some serious bonus money into the program to encourage authors to participate. I know more than a few contributors who have made money after just a few months. That’s a good thing. Icing on the cake if it happens to me.

But, right now, most important is this age-old advice:

I do love how the writing and revising is flowing from day to day.

And now to promote! Considering this new venture in my writing life, what better book to promote than one called From This Day Forward? Click over to my new romance novella and read the first chapter for free. The next two free episodes drop later in the week. Maybe give me some thumbs up love?

Happy Valentine’s Week! May all your reading and writing always make you happy.

Oh, and that Facebook friend I mentioned above? Brynette L. Turner is now on our blogging team. Stop by again on Thursday when she shares how she promotes her Kindle Vella books.

Dani Greer is founding member of the Blood-Red Pencil. She spends her days drinking coffee, writing, and herding trolls. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.