Strange, Weird, HUH? with Kindle Vella Writers

[cherrystark]

I don't think the problem readers are having actually is short chapters. I think it's the idea of a "satisfying" chapter length. A lot of writers are stuck in the mindset of 1-1.5K words. That's a fine serial chapter length but how are they setting up the rest of their work?

I tried reading one story where in one chapter, we went from the MC meeting with mysterious elders to a scene at the train station where we find out the MC had slept with her female best friend, and that they were both going to this party to become a bride for a mysterious prince. I couldn't finish the chapter. As @therosesword always says, it was "too wordy". The author threw in world building and was rushing to "get to some action." It wasn't satisfying.

I think it's something that people like us who post on sites like this learn is that you can take your time with your story. You are free to add an extra chapter here and there to fit the needs of your story instead of trying to fit an 80K word count requirement.

[Rollins]

Wow, this whole thread has been enlightening to me. I'm trying a story on Vella but I had no idea there were all these FB support groups for Vella-- I've just been checking in with the official Amazon community to catch up on news now and then. I think I'm glad I'm not a part of any of them. I guess I still don't see writing as a business the way a professional author should: I write because I love doing it.

[therosesword]

I guess I still don't see writing as a business the way a professional author should: I write because I love doing it.

to tell you truthfully, we're not so sure about some of these folks. I've been a "professional" through parts of my writing life but not to the extent of concentrating only on the money like some of the KU writers seem to be. I've often asked @cherrystark if these guys were writers or carnival barkers. I've known plenty of professional writers and I've never seen this kind of activity. I'm sure it exists and I've just been involved in different types of work but most of the people I've been involved with were all about the work. Most of the other fb pages that we've seen seem to be focused just on how to sell it and not how to create it. We actively promote discussions on writing itself, characters, character development etc.

There was a fair amount of stuff on our fb page before about vella but now we try to discourage that so we can focus on what we consider important, writing. @cherrystark and I both love writing and we would like to be paid for it (obviously I've been there and would like to continue that way) but this whole thing is a level of, I don't even know what to compare it to. I find it pretty repulsive.

[cherrystark]

@Rollins The craziness of the groups aside, it might be worth putting a series up on Vella. BUT - if you haven't got it posted yet, I would wait until there is more information available about how the platform works. It has the potential to give regular writers a chance to earn some income if they aren't writing a series to pitch to premium.

[cherrystark]

Guy in our group posts this rambling post about trying out a new story on Vella. I had to read it about six times to understand that he was saying he's dusting off an old story to try out on Vella. He's having trouble with his cover imagery because all other sport romances involve shirtless burly guys and girls in sports bras. My head hurts trying to decipher his comments

[cherrystark]

Saw my first Vella ad today. It was on Buzzfeed. Hopefully since it's going to other places like highly trafficed sites like Buzzfeed, there is still hope for us in the Vella verse. Fingers crossed.

[cherrystark]

GUYS!!! They are starting to do read4read/ like4like threads. I'm dying We warned people in our group about this type of thing and now those posts are starting up in full force.

The best "promo" a girl is offering a ten dollar Amazon gift card as a contest prize to read her series.

[therosesword]

The best "promo" a girl is offering a ten dollar Amazon gift card as a contest prize to read her series.

It's a gift card for anything so I'm thinking... I need cat food.

[Zugaikotsu]

I kind of pity them, but you already warned them, so... well...

Guess they will get angry when the 'fake' readers drop their series later and their dead engagement makes the algorythm digs them sxi feet under in the ranks

If anything, Vella will be useful for some lolz

[therosesword]

Guess they will get angry when the 'fake' readers drop their series later and their dead engagement makes the algorythm digs them sxi feet under in the ranks

So many of them are talking about pulling their "serials" (cough cough) at 30 chapters for the first arc, then publishing it as a book and then doing another 30 or none at all.

sometimes their posts are wilder than going down a conspiracy theorist's youtube rabbit hole

[cherrystark]

@therosesword And let's not forget about the woman who is freaking out over not being able to search her stuff (though other people can) or the woman one moment lamenting over the financial constraints of her husband's illness and then the next, offering $50 USD for five winners who help get her into the top five and $100 for the winners that help get her into the top 3.

It's sad and confusing.

[cherrystark]

One lady is pushing to get serial out into book for as quickly as possible. Her "reasoning" was that she doesn't want to alienate (essentially) her novel readership while "testing" out a serial's potential.

[Zugaikotsu]

lol who don't she publish the bloody book once for all? LMAAOO People using serials thinking is some sort of test for potential. It will be gorgeous to see their despair when the authors who know what they are doing and the readers who know what they want start to pump up the best series up and they are left behind.

[Zugaikotsu]

LOOOOLLLLL 30 chapters??? a whole book??? hahahahaha Someone should introduce them OVERLORD or LOG HORIZON so they can have an idea of what redership expects from webserials lenghtwise

[cherrystark]

I think "part" of the problem is that Vella writers are still taking cues from trends in ebook fiction and sites like Wattpad on how to write their series. The only "serials" I remember seeing on Wattpad were the fanfiction books which could easily have 50+ chapters.

I did ask the lady rushing to release her work into book form if she was taking the time for "side-quests" and expanded world-building, you know, the things serialized fiction readers actually like.

[therosesword]

I am so copying this pictures andf putting them up on the page we admin

[therosesword]

here's what it looks like on our admin page.

[Zugaikotsu]

Hahahahaa this is amazing! I hope they get the shade!!

[therosesword]

Me too, you have no idea how much I feel "me too"

[DesiredUsernameTaken]

Reading this has made me realize that "series" posted by chapter online and "serials" are different from each other. Probably something I should have known a long time ago.