Add or remove an episode poll

Polls are an opportunity to interact with your readers, get feedback, and increase your reader engagement.

You can include a poll in any episode, prior to publishing. Polls cannot be added once the episode has been published. Poll content must comply with our content guidelines. After a reader votes, they will be able to see the poll results.

Note: To protect the reader experience, you won’t be able to edit the poll content, or change the poll close date, once it has been published. Please double-check your poll question and answers before publishing, to ensure everything is correct.

To add a poll to your new episode:

1. At the bottom of the episode page, write a prompt for readers in the Question field.
2. Write answers that readers can select in the Choices fields.
3. Choose a Close Date when voting will stop and poll results will be finalized. After the close date, the finalized poll will remain visible to you and your readers.

To see poll results once your poll is live:

1. Go to your Kindle Vella Library.
2. Click Manage your story
3. Select View poll on the episode that includes your poll.

To delete a poll from an episode:
You can delete a poll from an episode after publication.

Note: After you delete a poll, that action can’t be undone. You won’t be able to add another poll to the episode.

1. Go to your Kindle Vella Library.
2. Click Manage your story
3. Go to the episode poll section of the episode page with a published poll.
4. Click Delete poll.
5. At the confirmation prompt, click Delete poll to confirm.

The poll and the all results will be removed immediately. You don’t need to republish the episode.

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Preview episode

View your episode as it will appear to readers. To create a consistent reading experience across all Kindle Vella episodes, we remove paragraph indentations and add a line space between paragraphs during publishing.

If you want to make changes after previewing your episode, make them directly in the online editor or in your original Microsoft Word document and import the new file.

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Tokens

Readers can unlock one or multiple episodes by purchasing and redeeming Tokens. Readers can read the first ten episodes in your story without redeeming Tokens. For later episodes, readers can unlock any paid episode for 10 Tokens each. You can see the number of Tokens a reader needs to unlock an episode on the Episode setup page. Learn more about Tokens and royalties.

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Release date

You can publish your episode immediately or schedule publication on a future date. After your episode goes Live or is Scheduled, we'll send you an email.

• Release now. Publish your episode immediately. After we review your content to ensure it's in compliance with our content guidelines we'll make it Live to readers.
• Schedule release. Scheduled episodes go available on the scheduled release date if the content is in compliance with our content guidelines. Scheduled episodes go live at midnight Eastern Standard Time on the release date. You can edit scheduled episodes up to four days before the release date.

To keep the story reading experience sequential, we can only publish an episode after all previous episodes are published. If you submit multiple episodes for publication at the same time, you may see the episode status in your Kindle Vella Library for a later episode change to Live while an earlier episode is still Publishing. Episodes will not become available to readers until all previous episodes are Live. If episodes aren't Live 72 hours after they were submitted, check your email to see if there's an issue that requires an update.

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Episode status

Your episode status appears in your Kindle Vella Library.

Status	Description
Draft	Your episode is created, but not published.
In Review	Your episode is under review to ensure it meets our content guidelines.
Failed Publishing	Your episode failed publishing due to a possible technical issue. Please try republishing.
Action Required	Your episode requires changes before it can move to Live status. Check your email for instructions.
Publishing	Your episode passed review and will move to Live status shortly.
Scheduled	Your episode will be available in the Kindle Vella store on the release date you scheduled.
Live	Your episode is available to readers. To keep the reading experience sequential, episodes will not become available to readers until all previous episodes are Live.
Live with Unpublished Changes	Your episode is Live, but you made changes that haven't been published. Publish your updates to make them available to readers.
Blocked	Your episode is unavailable for further editing due to a violation of our content guidelines. Check the email you use to access your KDP account for details.
Unpublished	Your episode (and story) is no longer available in the Kindle Vella store.

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Best practices

We’ve seen that the most successful stories on Kindle Vella have a few things in common:

• Publish episodes frequently. Readers who are interested in a serial reading experience enjoy frequent story updates. Stories that regularly appear in the Top Faved section of the Kindle Vella store are usually updated with one or more new episodes per week.
• Use Author Notes to connect with readers. Author notes appear to readers at the end of each episode, and are an opportunity to share excitement about the episode, tease what’s coming next, and to ask readers to engage with your story by Following or adding a Thumbs Up if they enjoyed it.
• Share your publishing schedule with readers. Stories that are updated on a publishing schedule (e.g. new episodes on Mondays and Fridays) tend to catch the attention of readers who are looking for something regular to read and build anticipation so readers can look forward to each upcoming episode. Put your publishing day(s) in your Story Description, in your Author Notes, and/or in other marketing efforts so readers know when to expect the next episode.
• Build your world. If you’ve published books or stories previously, readers may enjoy a story set in the same universe as your existing story. If you’re a new author, or you’re introducing a new universe through your Kindle Vella story, consider what future stories could come from this world to build your audience. Readers who Follow your story will be notified by email when you start a new story.
• Cross-promote your stories and episode releases. Don’t shy away from letting your readers know when you release new work. Publish it in your newsletter, post on your social channels, or kick off a new social handle or group.

For more ideas for best practices, visit the KDP Community to connect with other Kindle Vella authors.