What is Kindle Vella?

Amazon just launched their new reading service, Kindle Vella. But there wasn't much information available to readers beforehand, so how do you get started? How does Kindle Vella work? And is it the right reading service for you?

Currently available on the iOS Kindle app and most internet browsers (sorry Android users, you'll have to use Chrome!), Kindle Vella allows readers to access hundreds of stories broken down into smaller chapters, for quick reading wherever you are. Episodes are anywhere from 600-5000 words, and the first three episodes of a story are always free, so you can check them out to see if the story is worth continuing.

Vella's content consists of original stories, usually available nowhere else. It's going to be a great opportunity to discover new stories by lesser-known authors (yes, like me! more on that later).

So how do you pay for the episodes that aren't free? It's easy enough, you'll buy some tokens from Amazon ($1.99 for 200 tokens, $4.99 for 525 tokens, $9.99 for 1100 tokens, or $14.99 for 1700 tokens), and you'll use those to unlock episodes, at the cost of 1 token per 100 words. You can review stories you like, giving them thumbs and favorites to let other readers know that you liked it. You can follow a particular story or author, to get notified whenever they publish new episodes.

If you'd like to check out my first two offerings, you can find them here and here. I'll be adding more stories in the near future, so keep an eye out!