What is Kindle Vella and why is it important to us as authors? Todays podcast will answer these questions and many more as I chat to author Emily Shore who is a Top Ten Fave on Kindle Vella.
What is Kindle Vella and why is it important to us as authors? Todays podcast will answer these questions and many more as I chat to author Emily Shore who is a Top Ten Fave on Kindle Vella.
Hi, and welcome to the writing and marketing show brought to you by author Wendy H. Jones. This show does exactly what it says on the tin. it's jam packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news to help you with the business of writing. It's all wrapped up in one lively podcast, so it's time to get on with the show. And welcome to episode 115 of the writing and Marketing Show with author entrepreneur went H Jones. And here I am again with another fabulous interview. And today we're going to be talking about Kindle Vela with Kindle Vela Rockstar, Emily shore, and she's rocking the charts on Kindle Vela. Now if you listen to this anywhere other than you use UK, USA, then you might be wondering why I'm covering this well, it will only be a matter of time before it spreads out around the rest of the world. So I thought we'd get ahead of the game here on the writing and marketing show. But before we talk to Emily, I'd like to talk a bit about what's been happening in my life, well, not a great deal a heck of a lot. And I'm trying to keep completely out of the way and I'm staying indoors as much as possible, because I have the Scottish sociation of writers conference later this week as I recorded, and I need to stay as stay as COVID free as possible because I'm the president, so I need to be there to run it. And then of course, we I've got a few days away or holiday, I'm going to cross to the west coast of Scotland for a holiday and to do a bit of research. So I'm very much looking forward to that. So and I'm also gearing up for my trip to Antigua I'm always gearing up for my trip to Antigua and getting ready for historical research there. So one of the reasons for doing last week's podcast which was on writing historical mysteries. So lots going on. Before we meet Emily I would like to say it's a pleasure to bring you this show and I do so willingly every week however it does take time out of my writing. If you would like to support that time you can do so by going to patreon.com forward slash Wendy H Jones and you can support me for as little as $3 a month and that will let me know that you're enjoying the show on that you want me to continue. And so what have Emily Emily sure is a mn author a number one in fantasy romance for her Hades and Persephone retelling variety of the corpse King available on kink can novella after channelling her queer energy and healing from trauma in 2020. Emily's new platform is writing fantasy romance, crossover from wire to adult, starring badass heroines with themes of empowerment and for women and girls, LGBTQ ia plus inclusive inclusivity trauma overcoming sex positivity and polyamory because why choose? And I'm very much looking forward to hearing from Emily. So without further ado, let's get on with the show and have Emily join us. And we have Emily with us. Welcome Emily.
Emily Shore:Hey, thanks for having me.
Wendy Jones:It's such a pleasure to have you here. It really is. This is our second attempt at this isn't it Emily?
Emily Shore:And I will always love to listen to you Wendy.
Wendy Jones:Welcome to Scotland again. It's a good job. You didn't have to fly over here for it really?
Emily Shore:I would love to. Oh, Someday Someday I would love to
Wendy Jones:come to Scotland. Where are you in America?
Emily Shore:I'm in the Twin Cities but I absolutely my ancestors are from Scotland. My grandmother was born in Edinburgh.
Wendy Jones:Ah right. So close to me 50 miles away from me. So not too bad. So we're going to talk about Kindle valla today now it hasn't really hit the British shores yet. So for those of us not in the know what is Kindle Vela?
Emily Shore:Sure. So Kindel Vella is Amazon's brand new it's serialised fiction platform. So for those who are familiar at all with Wattpad or radish Topas. It's very similar to those where authors can release however many episodes that they want a week. So for those who are not familiar at all with those types of platforms, imagine it's like going to unlock or download your favourite TV episode on Amazon. And you go and pay for it and everything. And so imagine it's like that but in book form, and you can go and follow your favourite author, and you can even vote for them. If you love their stories, so that's it that is it in a little nutshell.
Wendy Jones:Thought describes it perfectly. It's a bit like the old magazine serials of old where you would get a chapter a week, you know, and you bought the magazine to read the next one.
Emily Shore:I love that, yes.
Wendy Jones:so it's a great idea, you know, and I love it. But we haven't got it here yet. So we're hoping it will come to UK shores. It's only the US at the moment.
Emily Shore:Yes, we are very hopeful to we're all waiting with bated breath for it to go international.
Wendy Jones:I'm sure you are. So why do you feel this platform is useful for both authors and readers?
Emily Shore:Sure, well, I have actually blocked on it a couple of times since launch. So you can find the blog posts on my website at Emily. I'm sorry about that. Just drop my phone at Emily Beth shore.com. And but mainly, I love how people have the option to support authors, like far more as Amazon has wider reach. It offers royalties and bonuses to author. So for emerging authors like myself, it is all brand new, never before published works. So you're getting something that's all shiny and new. And the probably the best benefit to it is that you can read as you go without the pressure of having buy a whole book, you know, because how many times do you buy a book, and then it sits at the bottom of your to be read list. And all of a sudden, you know, six months to two years later, all of a sudden you find it? Well, the great thing about Kindle Vela is when you follow your favourite author, you'll get little updates whenever they bring out a new episode. So that way you can kind of keep up with it as you go. And that way you also don't miss out and you don't have to wait a whole long year for a book to come out. That is probably my favourite part of it is that I'll come up with these amazing book ideas. And I'm a very, very fast writer, I could average out a book in probably like a month to three months, depending on how long it is. But you know, with all of the investment and the time that goes into bringing a book, regular books, paperback, and regular Kindle, that's a lot of formatting, a lot of editing, a lot of you know all the little nitty bitty gritty details that typically take anywhere from six months to a year. But with Kindle, Vela, you get the benefit of being able to read right away. And that is a beautiful thing for an author, especially if they have supporters and network where all of a sudden the network's saying, Oh, I really, if they're getting a lot of response that say, Oh, I really don't like the way that this chapter went, you know, this was really a surprise. And authors can actually interact more with readers and take that feedback and have the potential to adjust things about the book. And because the editing is ongoing with fellow, there's always opportunities to come back and edit. Whereas with the Kindle, regular book and paperback, you have to take the whole book down, reformat the whole thing, if you do any editing whatsoever. So that definitely takes the pressure off for the reader and the writer. So that's why I love it. So much.
Wendy Jones:Great reasons, all of them. So sorry, I just realised that I muted my microphone for a minute and had to switch it back on again. But they're all great reasons. They really are. And it seems like it's a marvellous platform. So I'm glad we're doing this today. So how exactly does it work?
Emily Shore:Yes. So okay. The great thing about Kindle Vela is you don't have to download a whole new app. All you need is an Amazon account and well who doesn't have an Amazon account these days. So you can follow you know the link of you know, whatever author is out there if they give you a link to their vellum that you can do that or go on to the main Bella page. And there are options for various tags on the main page, like enemies to lovers or love or magic or young adults if you just want to browse their featured titles. And then of course, the top faves Which rank the highest 250 authors who have been given crowns by readers. So you have the top five obviously then you have the top 25 I was in the top Turn all last year since launch. And then I, I've still been in the top categories of enemies to lovers and fantasy romance. So I've got just an amazing support group of readers and just beautiful, beautiful supporters that I don't know what I would do without them. But basically, you go and the first three episodes of every single material are completely free. So you don't have to worry about paying whatsoever for those first three episodes. And that is a great way to sample an author's work and see, as you know, that's your bread and butter, if that's something that you want to keep reading, and actually why I like to leave off Chapter Three on a cliffhanger. And right now, for anybody in the USA, of course, Amazon is giving away 200 Free tokens for a limited time. And that is ending very soon. But that gets you an additional eight to 10 episodes completely free. And once you unlock any episode, it will automatically be added to your Kindle library. And like I said, if you follow the author, you get to get the little notifications whenever they release a new episode. And then the top faith options I mentioned that, you know, you have the top faves, which ranked the highest 250 authors who have crowns, readers get the opportunity to give authors their crowns. So that's the great thing about it is that I have readers, I have supporters who will actually crown my book every single week, once a week. And it is a huge support for authors, especially small ones like me, where there's a lot of competition. And I tell my readers, hey, you get to do this for me for less than $2 A month later, literally, that is all it costs to support me as an author. I'm like the cheapest author out there. Less than $2 a month like it's less than a lot, I say. And all you have to do is purchase the base tokens package for only two $2. And then I tell people save those tokens don't binge don't unlock the whole time of episodes. As much as I appreciate that. I appreciate it more if you save them, and you only unlock one episode at a time. And that enables you whenever you unlock a new episode, you get that option that little pop up to top Fave one per week. So that's a wonderful way to support me as an emerging small indie author.
Wendy Jones:Fantastic advice there. I mean, I didn't realise any of that happened to be honest. So because we haven't got our hands on it yet. But I'm read getting ready to get started the minute it comes out. So it's useful to know how it works. And but for the UK authors, because we've not. So Id ready? How do we actually sign up for it when when it comes out.
Emily Shore:So like I said, you know, that allow all functions through your Amazon account. So you don't have to sign up for anything new. You don't have to download any app, you know, the Kindle Library app, if you don't have it is very helpful, but not necessary, because you can read just through your browser so you can unlock episodes and read online through your browser, just like if you were scrolling through an online magazine, for example. And it's also available on Android. Ah,
Wendy Jones:there we go. It's available everywhere. So that's useful to know. So again, just so we're ready, is there anything we would need to prepare in advance?
Emily Shore:Oh, well, I mean, if you're interested I'd say just start following some Kindle dolla authors on tick tock, I'm on tick tock and I do a lot of interaction with readers on their book talk and find out where else you may be able to read their cereals. For example, I include a nice spicier cereal, Vela stuff on the radish chat, so which is international, so people can download the radish app if they don't have it already. And they can look me up on there and find you know, just remind my that list stuff on there. And then I also have a patreon for anybody interested in signing up. And $5 a month gets you access to all three of my popular serial episodes. And that's another great way to support me and you also get some merchandise out of it. I give out like a special art print, poster postcard kind of deal and there's like like a coffee mug available a t shirt for different tears. And yeah, and like I said false start following us on tick tock my handle on tick tock is at author Emily shore.
Wendy Jones:Yeah. And that's good advice to start following the Kindle Vela authors because you'll get an idea of the sorts of things that doing. I think preparation is important. For for the authors are thinking about doing this and I think we should all think about doing it to be honest. And I'm curious is Kindle Vela about spontaneity? Or does the author need to plan?
Unknown:Oh, yes, so a great question. I think it honestly depends on the author. And I'm kind of like a little mix of Panster, pantser, and planner. So I know some authors that I absolutely love, who are diehard planners, and they have, you know, the graphs and the outlines and the sticky notes on like a whole wall, and I envy them to have the ability to do that I never have, I'm not quite that organised. But I do keep, like a lot of notes for my book ideas and for different chapters. And I love the fact that the world is my inspiration. And all of a sudden, if I'm walking outside taking my girls to the park, I can get an idea that for a chapter or for a book, and all of a sudden, I'm like, Oh, I got to jot this down on my phone as soon as possible before I lose the idea, or, you know, if I wake up from a dream, and I have an idea. So I just kind of have this untapped reservoir that's always flowing, and giving me all these ideas. So that's something that you can't really plan, you can't really organise the flow of inspiration, as Stephen King likes to say is that there is no like, story dump ideas can just randomly come from anywhere. And I love that about how my mind works. So I do start, if I do want to seriously bring a valid book, you know, out, I'm very professional about it, I do make a plan of how often I'm going to write. So that way I can be dedicated to releasing episodes on time. I also have readers and advanced Alpha readers that hold me accountable and keep the pressure on. And then I also will not release a book, if I do not at least have the beginning the middle at the end, I have to at least have those three things. And I know that the rest of the scenes, I've got scattered ideas for scenes in my head. And I know that the rest will work itself out. But I have to have that beginning, middle and the end.
Wendy Jones:No, that's great. And it is useful. Because if you're writing a novel, you can afford to take time to you know, a whole book once a week for to take time to think of things. But obviously, if you're bringing it out once or twice or three times a week, you need to be on the ball really. So yeah. Great advice. So what are the important points we should know in order to be successful on the platform?
Emily Shore:Yeah, so Vela requires a lot of marketing. And a lot of times, I ended up spelling out the benefits and even the instructions on how the platform works. My success has been due to extremely supportive friends who had been reading my work for years prior and I love to have one on one connections with readers. So I'll form this is like not a sprint. For me it's a marathon. I like to have personal relationships with my readers, whenever possible, I'll find out you know what's going on behind the scenes I'll find out about they have a chronic illness going on. So that way I could potentially send them a little postcard to cheer them up. I'll find out how their families are doing if they have kids and if they have pets, we bond over cats and everything and Disney and Harry Potter and anything that we might enjoy. So I I love to establish that. I know that that will probably not be feasible long term. You know if I go viral and end up having like a tonne of readers, but for these times where I'm growing and I'm building my platform, I love to maintain that one on one connection as much as as possible.
Wendy Jones:No again, great advice and I'm sure Everybody will be laughing up here. So what would be your top three tips for any author considering using Kindle Vela? Sir,
Emily Shore:I highly recommend Canva graphics because you can find all sorts of wonderful royalty free graphics via Canva. Especially if you go the Canva pro route, which I have tick tock videos Never underestimate the power of tick tock and then tapping into the Kindle Vela author groups on Facebook where you can be part of, you know, authors supporting authors network, we're all on they're reading each other's stuff. And there's so many wonderful writers on there and, and it's just, it's just amazing to see this supportive community.
Wendy Jones:Excellent. Yeah, tic TOCs. Great. We met on tick tock so it's pretty awesome. Tick tock is good because it's, it's getting your, your, your work to other readers. And it's connecting. I mean, on the other platforms, I tend to be friends with the same people, you know, whereas tick tock, it's a whole new raft of people, authors, readers, and that's good. That's a good thing. And okay, I still got some of my friends there. But you know, just talk locks. I agree. So I love
Emily Shore:that so much fun. I, I bring out a lot of funny writing related humour, because I'm like, with everything going on in the world who doesn't need more humour in their lives? So I love to do funny videos on tick tock, so
Wendy Jones:the world needs more funny videos. So what would be your top three tips for anyone who's already using the platform to use it more effectively?
Emily Shore:Yeah, so try something new, you know, you never know the gems you may find. Remember, there are more authors out there than simply the top five that are featured on the main page. And they're they're great too don't get me wrong, but small authors doesn't mean poor writing, it simply means no one has discovered them yet. Every famous author began as a small author once and if an author has included their name as a tag, click on that name on the tags because like I'm, for example, my Hades and Persephone bestseller on there, I have tagged enemies to lovers. I have fantasy romance. I have, I believe paranormal love I've a few others, but I also include my name. So that way, when people click on My name, they'll be able to find all of my cereals. So I currently have four cereals available on Bella two, which are my fantasy romance top faves and then I have two young adult works on there and then I'll be releasing a new fantasy romance. I'm almost finished with one and I'll be releasing a brand new one in April called bride of loose suffer which is perfect for fans of Crescent City. And it's about when Lucifer opens hell on earth as a tourist attraction and it's like a Vegas Las Vegas on steroids. And then he hosts Yes. And then he hosts the bride trials to find a new bride and who should enter but a sweet but bit psycho Angel assassin. hell bent on stopping and doing the multi race war between heaven and hell. All she needs to do is conquer those bride trials, survive the wedding, make it to the honeymoon and cut off the double sided without falling for him first.
Wendy Jones:I love the sound to that I havegot to read that but I can't until I get Kindle Vela. But hey, whoa. I will. I will look forward to it. So finally, where can my listeners find out more about you and your books?
Emily Shore:Yes. Tik Tok. Obviously, we covered that already at author Emily's shore. You can also subscribe to my newsletter by going on to Emily Beth shore.com. And there'll be a pop up option there. Let's see. Oh, yes, of course. I couldn't believe I almost forgot to mention this. I have a Facebook group. It's got like over 500 people out there now. And it's called Emily's Vela verse. I just established it a few months ago, and they love the growth and I do a lot of memes. I do a lot of fun games. I offer prizes. And it's just like a fun little group that I put together that's dedicated to my Vela books, but I do a lot of humour related posts. So like, for example, right of the quartz King is my Hades. and Persephone book, and so I'll do a lot of skeleton meme kind of humour or Halloween. Halloween is definitely a big month for me. I love Halloween so so Emily's Bella verse on Facebook and author Emily's store on Tik Tok and Emily Beth shore.com for my newsletter.
Wendy Jones:Excellent, we shall hunt you down. We shall find you, as they say.
Emily Shore:stalk me I am so extroverted. I love being
Wendy Jones:when we join Emily's Vellaverse if we haven't got access to Vella yet, or do you have to have a fella?
Emily Shore:Well, that one that one's on Facebook, and it's a public group. So literally all you got to do is go on there and start following
Wendy Jones:no worries. Well, thank you very much, Emily, it's been a pleasure chatting to you. And I'm hoping this one actually sticks
Emily Shore:Yes, because we tried this the last time and we lost like half of it. So yeah,
Wendy Jones:you did to the universe. I reckon it was something to do for you. But I try was quite frankly.
Emily Shore:Oh, and I don't know if I actually shared the titles but the the two top favourites that are on Kindle dolla, the ones from last year that became my best selling one was bride of the corpse King, and that's a Hades and Persephone retelling. And that one is very sensual, very slow burn. very steamy for those who like steam. And then my other one is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and that one's called bride of the shifter King. Obviously I have the thing about brides don't ask me why I like weddings. I like weddings, who loves wedding drinks all around. Okay. And that one is very spicy, very high heat level. So expect a lot of smoke for the Beauty and the Beast one. And I love writing badass heroines with themes of empowerment for women and girls. So a lot of feminism smashing the Alpha patriarchy because I love to feature dark alphas and sometimes they straddle the border between alpha and alpha hole, because I like the challenge and growth arcs. And then a lot of the themes are sex positivity, of course LGBTQI i A plus inclusivity because I'm bisexual. So a lot of my main characters are bisexual, trauma, overcoming, and then polyamory because hashtag white shoes.
Wendy Jones:What There we go. Hey, we know about it now. And I'm sure people will want to read it. Listen to it wherever we do it. I've got I've lost the plot really on whether you but it's reading it. So thank you. Once again. It's been an absolute pleasure. It's always a pleasure to chat to you Emily and enjoy the rest of your day.
Unknown:Now to enjoy that tea and coffee and the Kit Kats.
Wendy Jones:I will do, bye. That brings us to the end of another show. It was really good to have you on the show with me today. I'm Wendy H Jones. And you can find me at Wendy H jones.com. You can also find me on Patreon where you can support me for as little as $3 a month which is less than the price of a tea or coffee. You go to patreon.com forward slash Wendy H Jones. I'm also went to H Jones on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Thank you for joining me today and I hope you found it both useful and interesting. Join me next week when I will have another cracking guest for you. Until then, have a good week and keep writing keep reading and keep learning