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Kindle Vella - Royalties, Reporting, and Payments

You earn 50% of what readers spend on the Tokens that are used to unlock your story’s episodes. You're also eligible for a bonus based on customer activity and engagement. You can track Kindle Vella royalty earnings, story likes, and episodes read in the Kindle Vella Dashboard in our KDP Reports.

Contents

Tokens

To make it easy for readers to find stories they love, the first three episodes of every story are free. New Kindle Vella readers also receive free Tokens to help them get started. The number of Tokens needed to unlock an episode is determined by the episode’s word count at the rate of one token per 100 words. Each episode must consist of a minimum of 600 words and a maximum of 5,000 words. For example, it takes six Tokens to unlock a 638-word episode. You can view the number of Tokens needed to unlock an episode on the Episode setup page of your Kindle Vella Library.

We have several bundle options available for readers to purchase Tokens on the web and in the Kindle app on iOS and Fire tablets. Here is an example of the Token purchase experience on the web:

Tokens are available through mobile channels that charge a fee. In this case, the fee is deducted from the revenue that is shared.


Royalties

Here's how royalty earnings per episode are calculated:

  • (Number of Tokens to unlock episode) * (Tokens bundle price/# Tokens in bundle - taxes and fees) * (50% rev share) = Earnings per episode

For example, here's how we calculate earnings for a 3,025 word episode (30 Tokens) when the Tokens are purchased on the web in a 200 Tokens bundle versus an 1,100 Tokens bundle. In this example, we are assuming no taxes or fees.

  • Episode purchased with 200 Tokens bundle: 30 Tokens * ($1.99/200 Tokens - 0) * 50% = $0.1493
  • Episode purchased with 1,100 Tokens bundle: 30 Tokens * ($9.99/1100 Tokens - 0) * 50% = $0.1362

New Kindle Vella readers receive free Tokens to help them get started. If a reader unlocked an episode using free Tokens, you won't earn royalties on those Tokens. However, the number of free tokens redeemed toward your Kindle Vella content is taken into consideration for your monthly Kindle Vella bonus.


Kindle Vella bonus

All authors are eligible for a bonus based on customer activity such as redemption of free and paid Tokens, Faves, and Follows, and the total number of Kindle Vella stories that qualified to receive a bonus that month. Near the 20th of each month, we'll post the previous month's bonus amount in your Kindle Vella Dashboard. We will pay your bonus with your total KDP payments approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which the bonus was earned. For example, if you earned a bonus in July, it will be paid with your September payments.

We always support our authors' efforts to promote their books, but at the same time we work to prevent any manipulation of the Kindle experience.

We do not permit authors to offer, or participate in marketing that incentivizes Kindle Vella customers to read their content in exchange for compensation of any kind. This includes payment (whether in the form of money or gift certificates), bonus content, entry to a contest or sweepstakes, discounts on future purchases, extra product, or other gifts.

Because we're always looking to improve our authors' experience, we have systems in place to monitor for potential manipulation.

Our Kindle Vella bonus program is ongoing. Look for monthly updates on bonus amounts in the KDP Community.


Reporting dashboard

You can access the Kindle Vella Dashboard in KDP Reports.

To access the Kindle Vella dashboard:
  1. Go to your KDP Reports.
  2. Under the Kindle Vella heading, click Dashboard.

To download Kindle Vella reports, you need to access first the Kindle Vella dashboard by following the steps above, and then:
  1. Filter the report details by time period, author, and stories.
  2. Click Download report button.

The Kindle Vella dashboard shows this information by story:

SectionWhat it shows
Kindle Vella Bonus (All Stories)The total bonus amount (USD) by month. If you didn't earn a bonus for a particular month, that month won't be listed. This section will not appear until you’ve earned your first bonus.
Episodes readThe amount of:
  • Total episodes read. This includes unlocked and locked episodes.
  • Locked episodes read. This is the number of episodes readers purchased Tokens to unlock.
Royalties earnedThe total royalties earned for your chosen date range in USD. If a reader unlocked your episode using free Tokens, that won't appear in your report. Learn more about free Tokens.
Episode Thumbs UpThe total Thumbs Up for the episodes in your story.
Story followsThe amount of readers following your story.
Story reviewsThe amount of reviews readers left for your story.
Overview by episodeShows the Episode Thumbs Up, Episode Reads, Episode Returns, and Episode Royalties - USD for each episode in your story.
The Kindle Vella reports shows this information:

ReportWhat it shows
Stories reportThe amount of:
  • Total episodes read by story. This includes unlocked and locked episodes.
  • Total episodes returned by story.
  • Total royalties earned by story.
Learn more about KDP Reports.


Payments

We'll combine and pay your Kindle Vella royalty earnings with your total KDP payment. Kindle Vella is U.S. only and you'll be paid through the Amazon.com marketplace. As a reminder, KDP pays royalties every month, approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which the sale was reported. Learn more about getting paid.

You can track your payments from the Payment Report.


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