Kindle vella: What is it and why should I try it out?

News is slowly getting out. A lot of people have heard the name "kindle vella", but not everyone knows what it is or why they should give it a try.

I enjoy kindle vella, amazon's serial reading platform, because I don't always have the time or focus to sit down and read a whole novel, but I do have snatches of time where I can easily squeeze in an episode. If books were like movies, then kindle vella would be like a tv show. Each episode contains a section of the story, similar to a book chapter. Stories are often much longer than a novel and might continue through several seasons. My favorite kindle vella story (The Queen Trials by Penelope Wright) updates every single day, so whenever my day starts to drag, I can check for my daily update and continue the story just a little more. I also love to sample a story, or even an entire genre, to see if it's something that I will enjoy before I invest my time and money into it.

To read on kindle vella, you only need your amazon account. The first ten episodes are free, and trust me, you can get into a lot of story in ten episodes! In my most popular story, The Captain's Dowry, the main character changes from a proper lady to a cabin boy, escapes a debtor, and marries a stranger. After you've read ten episodes, you can buy tokens to unlock more. Currently, each episode costs ten tokens, which are about ten cents each (check those numbers for updates though). You can read directly from the kindle vella website, or check stories on the kindle app. For the moment, kindle vella is only available for the United States, but it's a new program and often changes.  

Another huge advantage to kindle vella is that it allows you to interact with the story and its author in ways that are not possible in a full book. While you can review a story like you would a full book, vella has many other options. After each episode, you can choose to hit the thumbs up button, or leave a comment. Some even have polls where you can vote for answers to story-related questions. And each week, you can pick your favorite story. The top 250 favorite stories get a coveted crown (and bonus money), so let your favorite authors know how much you enjoy their work!

I've seen a lot of different genres on kindle vella. As always, romance is queen, and spice sells. Not all stories are steamy romance, though. I write fantasy with sweet (not spicy) romance subplots. My kids screen each episode for me, so I need to make sure they're interesting as well as clean. I've enjoyed nonfiction, such as Life Lessons from Flipping Houses. Rosanne E Lortz writes some amazing Regency Romance stories. As mentioned, I've been reading The Queen Trials, a dystopia with a hint of fantasy, every day for years. I've even found stories that I've loved on kindle vella and later purchased as a full book on amazon, such as the middle grade adventure, The Golden Scarab of Balihar. These are the stories that interest me, but you can find stories of all kinds on kindle vella. 

I highly recommend giving it a try!

Book Recommendations March 2023

 

Here are a few books I've enjoyed this month that you might find interesting:

My brother-in-law gifted The Wild Robot to our family, and we loved it so much that we read the sequel as well. They're middle grade, with short chapters that made them perfect to read to our kids each night (although I enjoyed them myself as well). The animals in the first book especially appealed to me, as I studied wildlife in college.

This is my new favorite kindle vella story. It's super cute so far, about a human girl who has to marry a fae prince. The author also wrote another favorite vella of mine, The Assassin Bride, and the two stories take place in the same world.

Here's another kindle vella I've been enjoying lately: Suerhero Saga 1: Trials, Tribulations, and Trust Issues. The teen protagonist has a great sassy voice as she analyzes different superpowers for a corrupt government entity.

Sailing into a new Spectra story!

 

Is anyone else an avid daydreamer? I've been studying what some call maladaptive daydreaming. It's not letting your thoughts wander, or planning out your future, or even figuring out what to write next. When I'm stuck in a daydream, I'm basically watching a movie unfold inside my head--a movie I get to direct and control. Is it maladaptive? I'm not sure. Usually after about a week, it fades and I'm more grounded in reality for a while, until I meet a new idea I just have to watch unfold. Part of my character Indra's struggle with living in dreams (literally) in the DreamRovers trilogy comes from me. I bring it up because these daydreams end up being a goldmine of story ideas. I'd like to introduce you to a new story that started as a daydream. As I wrote down the basics of the daydream, I noticed its similarity to my favorite Shakespeare play, As You Like It. I combined both ideas into a new story, The Captain's Dowry.

Sal lives a double life--half at sea as her father's cabin boy, and half at a fine finishing school. Both worlds turn upside down when her father sells his ship and her hand in marriage. If her new husband thinks she'll stay quietly at home while he sails off into the sunset, he can think again. She won't stop until she finds a way to be herself--both of them.  If you'd like to read the first three chapters completely free, you can find them on kindle vella. (FAQ for how to read on kindle vella here). I'll be posting two chapters each week on kindle vella. If you'd rather wait for ebook, paperback, or Kindle Unlimited, the full book is coming out April 1, 2023. That'll give me time to finish all 45 chapters, have a few more beta readers look over it, and have a baby.

Book Recommendations for September

 

If you've seen any of my book recommendations before, you've probably heard me mention The Queen Trials, a dystopia that reminds me of a mix of The Hunger Games and The Selection. I read one episode daily on kindle vella, and it gives me something to look forward to throughout the day. Well, for those who prefer reading a whole book at once, the first season just came out in ebook, paperback, and audio!

This is my newest kindle vella find. It's Once Upon a Ren Faire by A. Christine Castillo. Keltia's normal day at the local renaissance festival is turned upside down when she follows a handsome knight into the portal to a magical realm. I'm excited to find out what secrets the knight is keeping from her. Stone and Feathers is a short story that I adapted for kindle vella. It's an urban fantasy retelling of the Grimm fairytale, Joringel and Jorinda, with quotes from the original tale. The story uses the same magic system as my other works, but a different setting.

Kindle Vella: FAQ and recommendations

I really enjoy amazon's new serial platform, kindle vella, both as a reader and as a writer. I wrote an FAQ about how to use it as a reader. I've already written two posts recommending some kindle vella stories I've enjoyed, but of course I've sampled and enjoyed many more since then. 

Kindle vella is a new and growing program, and it can use all the support it can get. If you try it out and enjoy it, consider letting your friends and social media connections know! Let me know what you think in the comments.

Now for this month's recommendations. Here are the top 10 this month that caught my attention:

The Spectra Crown Tales: This one is mine, a YA fantasy/fairytale retelling. Season 1, which is complete, is inspired by Beauty and the Beast and the American Revolutionary War. Season 2 switches to a different character's story and is inspired by Sleeping Beauty. More information about the series on my website.

Spectra Quest: Choose Your Clan: Another of mine, this story is part personality quiz, part choose-your-ending. Your fellow prisoner can help you gain elemental abilities if you help her escape. Your choices at the end of each episode determine which Spectra abilities you get.

The Queen Trials by Penelope Wright just entered its second season. I recommend this one every time, but that's because I'm religiously following every post. There's a short episode almost every day. It feels like a cross between Hunger Games and the Selection, with its own tone.

A Game of Leviathan by N.Y. Seely has a medieval fantasy feel about princes in competition for their uncle's throne. The main character has a disability so is trying to get ahead through a chess-like game.

A Secret Stained in Blue by Kara Jaynes is an interesting romantic fantasy about a rejected girl and a fae.

Courting Fae Thieves and Crowns by Joanna Reeder has another fantasy competition to marry a prince (I seem to read a lot of these), but the main character here is a thief who's supposed to be spying on the prince for the king.

Break Every Chain by Aella Black is a contemporary romance about two teens who live in the same town and yet very different worlds.

The Experiment by Valerie Claussen has a young woman enter a "social experiment" that feels something like a game show, for a quarter million dollars. 

Reigning Embers by C.L. Silas is about a fiery young woman gladiator who refuses to play by the rules, an awesome dragon she secretly bonds with, and a young lord willing to stand up to his society. What's not to love? Did I mention that this is another "competition to marry the man"? I don't seek them out, but these apparently catch my attention.

Unity: On the Edge of Darkness by Victoria Wright: Let's switch up genres and bring out some sci-fi! We have an ambitious woman commander making first contact on an alien planet, but her new friend may change her plans.

Okay, I said ten, but I want to do another in a genre I don't cover as often, so here's a bonus:

Desperate Passions by Sheila Sellinge is a Western romance between a young schoolteacher and a would-be bank robber.

One of the best parts of kindle vella is that you can sample the first three chapters completely free, and that still helps and supports the authors. So try them out, and see if you find a new favorite!

Book Recommendations for February 2022

 Here are some books I've read, enjoyed, and reviewed this month:

Trailing The Hunter by Heidi Eljarbo is a historical fiction about a young woman trying to save a Norwegian village from an incendiary witch hunter.

HawkSong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is a fantasy romance with an enemies-to-lovers story that I really enjoyed. Desperate to stop the war between their countries, two royal enemies agree to marry one another.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke is a middle grade fantasy that I first read a couple decades ago, but we recently read it as a family. We enjoyed the fantastic world of silver dragons and the evil Golden One that hunts them.

On Kindle Vella:

The Queen Trials by Penelope Wright has a similar feel to The Hunger Games. I mentioned it last time, but this month I really got into it and accidentally binged fifty episodes.

The Elementalist by Medea Cygan reminds me of Avatar: The Last Airbender with its magic system, but with a more Urban Fantasy style. 

The Dream Heist by Christina Farley mixes paranormal dream technology with a real life heist. The author travels a lot, so the descriptions of the different countries they go are extremely well done.

Rough draft of The Seventh Clan

 I thought some readers might find this interesting. This is the very first draft of The Seventh Clan. The main character Perrin's character changed quite a bit since then, and there's a lot more detail and better writing. If you'd like to compare this with the final draft, you can read the first chapter (free) here.

Thick mist covered the camp, while the few campfires created beams that the mist distorted into fantastic shapes. Perrin crept through camp, concentrating on the sounds instead of the sights. Most of the soldiers were asleep in their tents and only a few voices remained to murmur ghostlike through the mist, seemingly without a source.  

Someone shuffled ahead. Perrin headed toward the sound. “Guardsman?” 

A torch flickered to life. “Who is it?” 

“It’s just me, Perrin. I’ve brought orders.” He hated how his voice squeaked. 

The soldier appeared, every inch a soldier, from the clean white sash that was all the uniform they had to the huge musket leaning against his arm. The barrel gleamed in the torchlight and Perrin wanted to touch it. 

“Well?” the man demanded. 

Perrin handed over a tightly bound scroll and stepped back while the guardsman read. They were nearly the same height. Maybe in a few months Perrin would be the one standing at guard while someone else brought him messages. 

The distant slapping of waves against the beach united with the creaking of tree branches in a night wind. The cool mist teased his exposed skin. Moon. 

Something was moving among the mist. Perrin squinted. A glimmer of light appeared and vanished again. “Over there!” he hissed, remembering just in time to keep his voice down. 

The guard peered in that direction. “I see nothing.” 

Perhaps the soldier’s eyes were tired, for Perrin could now make out dark shapes, gaps where mist ought to be. “They’re right there! People coming toward camp.” 

“Don’t believe everything you...” 

A crack broke the stillness. A hint of orange fire flashed. Perrin cried out. The gun had missed, but now more shots were being fired. “Get help!” the guard screamed at him. “Don’t stick around and watch.” 

“Yes, sir!”  

Perrin ran back toward camp. Hopefully they would hear the guns before he arrived. The guardsmen were shooting back now, but Perrin was not tempted to stop and watch. He’d seen Vangton oppression before, and heard those gunshots. He knew what damage they did. 

The camp was already in commotion. Perrin ran straight for the center tent. The flap opened before he reached it. General Niles stood in the opening. He was a short man for a legend, but Perrin wasn’t fooled. “General!” Perrin shouted. 

“How much do you know?” General Niles barked. 

“Unknown number of Vangton soldiers firing on our guardsmen, coming from the beaches to the northeast.” Perrin thought back, trying to remember any other details. “The sea is calm, but I heard nothing else.” 

“They’ll have come from the Starwood fleet outside of City.” General Niles turned to the aides around him and began barking orders. Perrin knew better than to get in the way. He backed to the side of the tent.  

A face peered out from underneath the canvas. “That you, Per?” 

Perrin stood straight. “I am on duty. Formality, please.” 

The voice scoffed, and then its owner slipped out from under the canvas. Gio stood up, sweeping the dust from his trousers. Perrin doubted it would do any good. Gio’s dirty hands would only get his clothes more dusty. “What’d you see?” 

“In the mist, very little,” Perrin answered. The general was still barking orders. Perrin tried to listen. The sounds of battle were becoming louder and more chaotic.  

“Do the Vangtons really have horns, do you think?” Gio asked. 

“Don’t be stupid!” Perrin exploded. “Our ancestors were Vangtons. If they had horns, so would we.” 

“Boys!”  

Perrin straightened again. General Niles was looking straight at him. “Yes, sir?” he and Gio asked in unison. 

“We’re evacuating camp. Get to the provisions tent and help pack up. If the fighting comes close, drop everything and run.” 

“Yes, sir,” the boys chimed. 

“Then go!” 

They ran. Perrin led the way to the provisions carts. Horses stamped their hooves. “Someday, we’ll be fighting,” Gio said. “Drop everything and run. Bah!” 

In the distance, someone screamed loud enough that even the gunshots seemed quiet. “I can wait,” Perrin said. 

“Coward.” 

“I am not!” 

You can find The Seventh Clan on kindle vella, or learn more about the series on The Spectra Books website.