![]() I want readers who actually read my episodes and enjoy them. I welcome another indie’s opinion of my work and am happy to do the same, but I don’t want someone “unlocking” my episodes in exchange for the same. Authors can undoubtedly be readers of other indie works–I certainly am–which is where the fine line comes into play. There is a fine line between showing another indie author “support” through authentic reads and scrolling through their content, marking each episode with a thumbs up, and posting a screenshot to prove you’ve “read” it. Sales savvy authors will figure out a way, but most of us seemed to have drifted to the usual Facebook groups where “promotion” boils down to “I’ll read yours if you read mine.” Completed stories become quickly dead in the water, which leads to the question of how best to promote them. I won’t attempt to decipher the Amazon algorithm, but based on the bonuses I’ve received, it seems to reward frequent uploads over organic reads. If Amazon is encouraging uploads to grow its content base, it appears to be working. My epic fantasy story, Starlex, was one of the first of its kind on Vella and had a great launch, which unfortunately lost steam as more authors jumped on the bandwagon. There may also be some organic growth there, especially among the evergreen romance genres. The top performers on Vella either already have a solid readership base eager to follow their stories anywhere–I recognize a few famous names among them–or have a hell of a PR campaign. That score has been pitiful, as I imagine has been the case for most writers crowding onto that platform. I’ve made thousands of dollars on the stories I transferred from Wattpad to Vella, however, most of these earnings came from Amazon’s bonuses, not organic readers. In that respect, Vella has paid off handsomely. That decision was complicated, but mostly I closed shop on Wattpad because it was holding me back as a writer, meaning it was time to stop giving away my work for free and take a more robust leap into earning money for my creative efforts. Before Vella launched, I deleted my Wattpad account despite being one of the platform’s “star” authors and winning a Watty award. Do readers even know about it? I probably wouldn’t if I didn’t have stories on the platform. Kindle Vella’s first anniversary has rolled around to little fanfare.
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