More Kindle Vella and the Hardman Writing Biz

Much to my surprise, Amazon reached out to me recently about the Kindle Vella program. Basically, they wanted to talk to me about participating in it and uploading some material before it offically launches in July. Of course, it was flattering to have Amazon initiate contact, but I wasn't foolish enough to think it's because I'm that special. The Great 'Zon obviously wants this program to be successful, so I assume that they're reaching out to everybody who hasn't signed up yet.

It was an interesting phone call, to say the least. Unfortunately, some of what we discussed is confidential and can't be revealed. (To be frank, I'm involved in a couple of things on the writing front that have been stamped "Confidential" so that I can't talk about them, although I personally don't think any of them are earth-shattering.)  What's clear, however, is that Amazon is going after this episodic writing market with fervor - and the more writers/material they have, the better their chances of success.  There will obviously be some growing pains,  but Amazon has deep pockets so success may just be a matter of time, and they seem comitted to this.  At least for now...

On my part, I conveyed my various issues with participation - everything from the inability to promote to the constraints on publishing formats (e.g., can't do print versions or audiobooks).  And I barely even touched on the scammers, who have probably already figured out 10 ways to cheat the system.  (They always do...)  All in all, it probably sounded like a gripe session, although that wasn't my intent.  My main point was that the program didn't suit my business model, and - with the tools currently available - I couldn't see a clear path to successfully participating in it without a healthy dollop of luck.

And speaking of the Hardman Business Model, It's probably time to execute the next phase of that.  To be honest, however, I didn't initially start off this writing gig with any sort of plan.  It was simply, "Let me write this book that's been rolling around in my brain and see what happens."  I'm blessed in that my work resonated with readers and good things followed.  But then, of course, it became necessary to start treating my writing like a business, which meant having some sort of vision.

The first step was pretty basic:  publishing my titles as ebooks and in print.  Beyond that, I initially didn't give much thought to what should come next for a long time.  The obvious answer was audiobooks, but it meant having to learn an entirely new area of of the book market so I put it off for a long time.  In retrospect, I should have jumped into audiobooks much sooner, but it is what it is. Anyway, it was probably around that time that I started mapping out in detail what my business model would look like and how it would progress.

Now that audiobooks are an ingrained part of my business plan, the next item on the agenda is foreign markets.  To be clear, I do sell in other countries, but obviously not as much as I'd like in places where English is not the native language. Ergo, the challenge is to find the best way to tackle those regions.  It's not immediately clear to me yet what the path is going to be (I still need to do some research), but that's the plan at the moment.  Of course, this isn't set in stone and could change depending on other factors. (For instance, if Amazon did something to increase the appeal of Vella, although I'm not holding my breath on that one.)  Regardless, as has been the case thus far, it's going to be a unique learning experience.