A funny thing happened at the 2021-2022 transition point…several things, actually, that all fell into place in unexpected ways. You could say these led to my New Year’s Resolutions, but I prefer to think of them as “serendipitous life changes that I may or may not stick with.”
So…”resolutions.”
Twist #1: Less Tok, More Action!
You may recall I had a slight obsession with TikTok these past few months — I was posting videos every day, growing my following, and striving to go viral. I had 100+ days in a row of posting, my following grew by hundreds, and many of my videos “blew up” (ok, one of them hit 11K views… that’s a big deal for me!).
Then, sometime in early December, my phone broke. Well, more like it went lame; it mostly still worked as a podcasting-playing, photo-taking, internet-surfing device, but it stopped working as a, ya know, phone. No data, no signal while driving, no texts coming or going. It had acted wonky a few times before, but it didn’t go back to normal after a week or so and I had to get a new one.
During the few days between old phone and new, I couldn’t really post TikToks — I mean, I could, if I recorded them at home, uploaded them to my laptop, and did everything through the website but I mean…work.
So for me, that little hiatus was enough to break the spell and show me several key realizations:
- TikTok was taking up a fair amount of my precious free time
- The amount of time and effort I put in did not equal results (my most time-consuming videos often had minimal views, while one that I spent 8 seconds making was the most popular by far)
- My following was growing slower than I anticipated (it was plateauing…some days I would net NO followers)
- I would need to get 12x more followers to even begin making money off my hard work (10,000+ followers to start monetizing)
When my new phone arrived, I made a decision: I would only post on TikTok when I have something worth posting. Since that moment, I’ve posted maybe 10 times — a few funny clips, a couple inspirational quotes, and one or two writer-related ones.
Weird result: Those random videos did as well or better than my average videos before
Weirder result: I consistently get 5-10 new followers per day — even on days I don’t post anything (and at least half of them are actual people!)
Which leads us to Resolution #1: Don’t waste time on TikTok! I am continuing to strive toward my #OYTMI goal, but I’m taking a different route.
Speaking of…
Twist #2: Vella Fella
I know I’ve mentioned Amazon’s relatively new serialized writing platform, Kindle Vella, a few times now. At only six months old, Vella is hard to gauge, both as an author and a reader. Will there be enough of an audience to read my stories there? Will there be enough good content to make it worth readers’ while? How do I get paid? Do I get my money’s worth?
I started posting stories on Vella over the summer, right around the same time I got into TikTok, and the two experiments have run long enough for me to get useful data.
Allow me to cherry-pick the salient points:
- Vella allows me to post stories one chapter at a time — so I can provide content to readers during the writing process, rather than waiting months for a finished product
- Readers can check out any of my work for free for the first three chapters — then they have to pay tokens to unlock subsequent chapters (Amazon and I split the token values 50/50)
- Vella gives me bonuses for posts, likes, follows, and “faves” — weekly votes from readers that indicate one of my stories was their favorite that week
- The Kindle bonuses I’ve received started small… but have grown in a fairly predictable way (50% month-over-month)
Thus began my experiment. After a few months of haphazardly posting on Vella, I decided to commit: post a chapter (“episode”) every three days. I encouraged friends and family to like and follow my stories. Then I waited for the bonus report the following month to see if these efforts impacted my bonus.
Then BAM! Right around the time I got my new phone, I got my Vella bonus: $181!
Yeah, I know it’s not a killing (I made more waiting tables in one night back in the day), but hey, it was the most money I’d made for my writing in a month. 😲🤑
The one-two punch of no TikTok and yes Vella lit a fire under me. I buckled down and upped my efforts: I posted new chapters every TWO days, plus fished for more likes, follows (and even a few “Faves”).
Then I played the waiting game again, regularly posting in January while hoping to see if my next bonus reached my expected total.
January 15th rolled around: No bonus. Hmm…ok, it’s a Saturday. Maybe after the weekend they’ll post it.
January 17th: No bonus. Well, it’s MLK Day, so they probably have off. Surely they’ll announce bonuses on Tuesday…
The 18th: No bonus. Fellow Vella authors start posting worried message on the community board: We all wonder when/if we’re getting bonuses anymore. Were they just for 2021? My hopes of early retirement began to crumble before my eyes…
The 19th: “Bonuses coming SOON!” Amazon announced. We Vella-ists checked our email compulsively, wondering when soon would arrive…
Finally, Jan 20th, right after lunch: BONUSES DROPPED. I totaled them up (they were awarded by title, not one lump sum). The result: a SIGNIFICANTLY higher amount than I anticipated. My hard work paid off!
So, Resolution #2: I’m all-in on Kindle Vella. I am posting 20+ this month, spreading the word, and hoping I can continue this trend. Heck, I might even get some people *I don’t know* reading my writing… a guy can dream, right?
Well, I’m off to post some more chapters…stay tuned for my Third Resolution (which didn’t really fit in with these two, but is yet another sharp left from where I thought I was heading six months ago)!
M. J. Lau 