Following Amazon’s announcement to discontinue Kindle Vella, its serial content platform, many authors are exploring alternative options to showcase their episodic storytelling.

Kindle Vella offered writers a new avenue of revenue, proving the success of the serial model. With such financial gains, authors are seeking a replacement.

What is a serial?

Serials, sometimes called episodic writing, differ from breaking down a book into chapters and putting it up for readers to digest in bites. Although that could happen, it is still best when each episode is self-contained, where characters are growing and meeting new challenges as the story goes along.

Some of your favorite stories started as serials before turning into novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, A Tale of Two Cities, Anna Karenina, and even The Phantom of the Opera. However, you don’t have to look back so far to find popular authors succeeding with episodic stories. Think of Stephen King with The Green Mile, Andy Weir’s The Martian, or even Positron by Margaret Atwood.

Serial Writing Benefits

What are the benefits of serial writing?

1. Audience growth: You can create and build an audience interested in your writing. Think about it as community building. This is a long game, where you are getting readers invested in your writing style and leading them then to your funnel and other works.
2. Create Superfans: You’re able to build superfans through serials, bringing readers back again and again to devour your tales. The more you can get a reader to spend time with you and your world, the warmer they are to your messages. Building a relationship with readers in this way makes it possible for you to have a base that’s hungry for your work.
3. Make money: Platforms are eager for your work. But you can also post a serial on your online store, blog, or behind a paywall, if you prefer.

Where to post a serial?

You can post your serial on many different sites and earn on your serial. Here are a few:

• Subscription sites that you create: If you like being in control, two options for serials would be to post them on a subscription site that allows you some form of control, such as Ream Stories, Substack, or Patreon. These sites allow you to know the details about your readers, so that you can actively build YOUR community and not just content for someone else’s site. Here, you earn based on the tiers and subscription model you choose to create as rewards for your readership.
• Radish Fiction: Radish requires you to be accepted by their program. Personally, I know that platform does great with romance. There are three different tiers, including Emerging, Established, and Influencer.

Side note: There are tons of apps out there searching for serial content. Be careful about any app you decide to use, with many wanting to do a rights grab. Read the fine print and research BEFORE you agree to any terms to protect yourself and your IP.

Free Sites

There are also many sites you can post to grow hoping for them to enter your reader funnel. This includes Wattpad, Inkitt (free then invited to a paid platform), your own blog/newsletter, and even combining this with a Bookfunnel delivery.
For example, you could combine the serial with growing your newsletter. Then later, you’d move your readers to a paid model based on your funnel.

Another thought: you could take that serial and turn it into a podcast, or an audiobook, and grow your YouTube, TikTok, or social media accounts (especially with that 10-minute option for videos on TikTok). If you can get enough followers and view time on YouTube, you can monetize that channel; with TikTok, if you become a part of their creator’s program, you can also monetize that channel for your content.

Remember, you are the captain of your boat. You get to decide where your ship sails.

Kindle Vella is set to officially close as a platform in February 2025.

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