Kindle Vella Episodic Storytelling Service to Launch in July: All Details

Kindle Vella, a new storytelling option, has been introduced by Amazon for readers on the Kindle app. This new service will offer a new way to share serialised stories with readers over an extended period. These episodes can be purchased by readers through tokens that need to be bought from the in-app store. Readers will have access to Kindle Vella stories in the Kindle iOS app and on Amazon.com by mid to late July. This feature will first be available to US-based authors only.

Amazon announced on the Kindle Direct Publishing site that Kindle Vella will first arrive on the Kindle iOS app in July. Once Kindle Vella stories are available for readers, they’ll be able to find and view the story’s detail page in the Kindle Vella store. Readers will be able to access the first few episodes of the story for free and use new features like Follow, Faves, and Thumbs Up to engage. Once the free trial is over, readers will need to purchase Tokens to unlock more episodes.

Using this Kindle Vella feature, US-based authors can publish serialised stories, one short episode at a time, to keep their readers hooked and purchase tokens as they go along the journey. Amazon recommends that Kindle Vella stories should be written specifically to be released in a serial format, one 600–5,000 word episode at a time. The author stands a chance to earn 50 percent of what readers spend on the Tokens that are used to unlock the story’s episodes. The number of Tokens needed to unlock an episode is determined by the episode’s word count at the rate of one token per 100 words.

There is no clarity on when Kindle Vella will be available for Android app users. Amazon is expected make an announcement on an exact date for Kindle Vella rollout soon.