![]() So how is Kindle Vella different, and what opportunities does it offer authors? That’s what we’ll uncover in this post. Kindle Vella is Amazon’s foray into the “serialization market,” currently dominated by established apps such as Wattpad or Radish, and with a readership consisting mostly of young readers. Amazon is also releasing a version aimed at children, Kindle Kids, for $119.Amazon announced the launch of the new Kindle Vella program in April 2021, a few months before actually making it available to readers - already pre-loaded with hundreds of stories from authors. All of these improvements over the previous model come in at $99, only $10 more than the older device. The new Kindle looks closer to the current Paperwhite editions, with a 6-inch high resolution, glare-free, front lit screen and an enhanced battery that lasts for up to 6 weeks. These changes over the past few months indicate that Amazon is shifting Kindle in a new direction, although that direction is unclear.Ĭan updates to new Kindle products give us a glimpse at what Amazon is prioritizing in their ereading services? In September, Amazon previewed their new base model Kindle on October 12 and is now available for preorder. None of these changes to Kindle features and policies have been widely communicated by Amazon, inviting the question, What other Kindle features are quietly disappearing? It’s not unusual for Amazon to make changes to their products and services without announcement. Users were instead directed to Prime Reading or Kindle Unlimited. This lending program allowed users to borrow one free ebook per month and re-download that book at any later date. The previously popular Kindle Lending Library was ended in August 2020 after almost a decade. And it’s not the only “lending” Kindle option to disappear in recent years. As this was previously a benefit to purchasing ebooks through Amazon, it’s disappointing to lose this feature. The reason for this change remains unknown. Unable to find any formal information about the change, I looked around in my own Kindle library and saw for myself that books that were previously lendable no longer had the option to lend. This reader was utilizing a post I wrote for Book Riot in 2018 explaining how to lend Kindle ebooks and reached out to notify me of the change. This was brought to my attention by a Book Riot reader who, after communicating with multiple Amazon customer service representatives unaware of the change, finally spoke with an agent who shared that the lending option was discontinued at the end of August 2022. No official Amazon announcement is available, but it appears this feature has now disappeared from all Kindle ebooks. ![]() ![]() The Author’s Guild and the UK Society of Authors are both praising the change, with the Society of Authors calling it “a major improvement for authors of books available on Kindle.” Presumably, readers will realize they’ve “accidentally” purchased a book within the first 10% of the text, and further help for returns is available through customer service. For readers, while it may limit their ability to freely read and return ebooks, it’s a fair change. This is a positive move for authors whose books were essentially being pirated through the ebook return loophole. The policy is set to go into effect before the end of the year. Otherwise, users will need to contact a customer service agent in order to process ebook returns. Readers will now only be able to return ebooks within seven days of purchase if they’ve read 10% or less of the ebook in question. On September 23, Amazon responded by announcing they will change their Kindle return policy for accidental purchases. ![]() A petition about the return policy gained over 75,000 signatures. Authors begged Amazon to fix this problem, pointing out that Amazon had the tools at hand to see if readers had finished the books they claimed to have purchased mistakenly.
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