Last updated 2/27/2022
Why You Need a Good Story Description on Kindle Vella
As authors, we all know the importance of a good story description. It’s your pitch to the reader. A good description is how you get someone to buy your book! The same is true on Kindle Vella. A good description will get people to read that first episode.
However, with the visibility of tags being limited and the way readers look for and find stories being a little wonky at times, some readers may take to the search bar to try and find stories on Kindle Vella. What happens when they do? Will they find your story?
On Vella, we need to be prepared for our story descriptions to not only sell our stories but to help our readers find our stories as well.
What Makes a Good Description on Kindle Vella?
A good description on Kindle Vella is going to summarize your story in a very small space. It’s going to entice them to read that first episode. And while someone looking through a tag page on a phone won’t see any descriptions before they click on a story, someone on a computer will see a sentence or two. So that first sentence needs to be grabbing.
The space for story descriptions is so limited that it is really important that you think about how you’re going to draw the reader in. What is going to make them click on that first episode?
You probably don’t have space to list your previously published works or your writing achievements unless they are relevant to your Vella story or you think the reader will be so impressed that you’ve been on the NYT bestsellers list that they’ll read episode one. That might be a good tactic for some but probably not for most.
So your description needs to be interesting and fast.
Your story description will also need a relevant keyword or two that will help your story show up in search results if someone searches on the search bar.
A Little Basic SEO
For those who aren’t aware, SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing text so that it is easier for search engines to read and understand. We’re just going to focus on keywords right now. If you want to learn more about SEO, you can read Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO.
The search bar on Kindle Vella seems to function like a search engine.
As in, when I type “Haunted House” into the search bar, the search results are going to show me stories that are relevant to that keyword.
When we’re talking about search results from the Kindle Vella search bar, currently the results seem to be entirely based on keyword relevancy and have nothing to do with ranking factors such as follows, thumbs up, episodes read, etc. So this is another opportunity where your story can be found that’s not based on how your story is currently performing.
The search bar on Kindle Vella is like a search engine, but it’s not as sophisticated as Google. Not by a lot. So we don’t have to go crazy with our SEO here. It’s just something to keep in mind when we’re working on our story descriptions.
What Should Your Story Description Look Like?
Write an awesome story description that’s going to make a reader click on our story and read the first episode. You got it? Great!
Now think about what someone should type into the Kindle Vella search bar to find your story. If you had to reduce your story to one phrase what would that be? Zombies? Vampires? Werewolves? Dystopian Society? Those are your keywords. Are any of those words in your story description?
For my story description, I focused on the keywords “Haunted House,” “Ghosts,” and “Paranormal.”
Morgan is going to spend the night at the infamous DeMarco Mansion, alone. Before her fiance Liam disappeared, they had planned to spend the night at the Haunted House together and investigate Ghosts and the Paranormal. But when Morgan arrives at the mysterious, old house she gets an email from Liam. Liam is lost in an underground city where the rules of time and space don’t apply. The answer to saving Liam is hidden somewhere in the DeMarco Mansion. What will Morgan find behind the wallpaper?
Focus on a keyword or two. The use of your keywords should feel organic and natural. If they stick out and seem out of place you’re doing it wrong. Do not try to use too many keywords. I repeat, DO NOT KEYWORD STUFF. It’s not worth it, and you might get away with it for a while, but eventually, Amazon will catch on and your account could be banned.
What Should You Do Now?
Take a look at your story description. Figure out what your story’s keyword should be. Make sure that the keyword appears organically somewhere in your story description. Then hope that people search for it in the search bar on Kindle Vella!
Good luck!
