Kindle Vella

 Amazon has just announced a new way to read books on line:  as serials.  Their platform is called "Kindle Vella."  Here's the link to the main page.

The idea is that a lot of people enjoy reading serials, one short episode at a time, on their phones, perhaps while on the bus to work, perhaps in a brief break while at work or while contemplating whether that laundry really needs to be done now.

So far there are about 5,000 stories on the site, some complete if you read all the episodes, some with just a few episodes up so far and the authors promising to publish regularly.  They are pretty much all genre fiction, that is romance, or mystery, or thriller, or fantasy, or science fiction.  You can read them on your phone or computer, although the assumption seems to be that phones will rule.

For all of the stories, people can read the first three episodes for free, to see if they find it intriguing.  After that, you have to pay (although there's a place on the site to get some free "tokens").  Amazon, which when it gets the bit between its teeth really likes to try something new, has the reader pay with "tokens."  You buy tokens in bundles.  They are about a penny each, less if you buy a lot of tokens.

A typical episode of about 2000 words (the equivalent of about half a dozen pages in a book) will require about 20 tokens to "unlock" the episode.  The authors, understandably, love to end their episodes with cliff-hangers, to make the readers cough up some more tokens.  Amazon will also nudge you to keep reading.  If you missed something, you can always go back to the beginning by clicking "see all episodes" below the list of the various episodes/chapters.

Also while trying to do something new, Amazon encourages readers to click that a story is their "Fave" (which I hope means favorite, it apparently is something good) or to give episodes "thumbs up."  (Wait.  Under the original Roman empire, didn't a thumbs-up in the Colosseum mean that the emperor wanted the gladiator to die miserably?  Let's move on.)

Now you probably guessed that I have my very own story up on Vella.  And you guessed correctly!  It's called "The Knight of the Short Nose" and is a complete story in 19 episodes, all there for your reading pleasure.  Here's the cover.

It's a rollicking tale of chivalry, betrayal, sword fights, and the biggest, baddest knight who somehow always needs a woman to save him.  It's loosely based on the epic cycle "William of Orange," about which I blogged recently.

If you enjoy reading serials, here's the direct link.  Or if you prefer a regular ebook or paperback version, those are now available on Amazon.  Enjoy!

© C. Dale Brittain 2021