If you subscribe to my newsletter and my blog, this will be repeat information so I’ll apologize in advance. And if you follow me on any of my social media, then you’ll be triply (not a word, I know) informed. Ok, that last sentence is bugging me. How about, you’ll be informed in triplicate? Which of course, if you have no knowledge of the old carbon copies, then even that won’t make a lot of sense. But I digress.

As many of you know, I published my debut novel on Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform last July when the serial site launched. I released episodes weekly up til Christmas Day and the completed story occasionally gets attention now and again.

This past July, I indie published that story in traditional formats, and made it available on Kindle Unlimited. I’m often asked which way to read most benefits me as an author. And I can only answer that they all do. Reading Kindle Vella episodes let’s Amazon know that there is an audience for Christian fiction. I’m sad to say that many of the Christian stories are difficult to find. And the Christian tag (they still have not created a genre category—-maybe your reads and feedback can help with that) has lost a place on the popular tags list.

I don’t say this to be boastful, even though it is going to sound that way, but up until this summer, my story was the top story under the Christian tag for most months since Vella’s launch. I wonder if Christian readers flood the platform with reads, if this could help them see the importance of having Christian content there. And what better time than this week, when every story is free? I would of course, love it if you would read mine (if you haven’t already) but this is a great time to find other Christian stories there and give them a boost too.

There are slight differences between the Vella story and the traditional formats. But the biggest bonus is that the author notes at the end of each episode is exclusive to Vella. In those I’ve included historical tidbits and behind-the-scenes information that I’ve not shared anywhere else.

And…this is the best time to read this story. The anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire is this week—October 8-10.

Have you read on Vella yet? Are there any stories you plan to try? Let me know in the comments. I know that I’m excited to get back to reading several stories that I’ve started.