Kindle Vella Top 250 Faved List Breakdown (November 2021)
The Data
The data logged in this article was manually gathered [December 1st 2021] from the Kindle Vella Top 250 Faved list from information publicly available at the time this article was written. Please be advised the data and insights provided are the opinions of Book Genie. We make no warranty or guarantee regarding the correctness or authenticity of the data, as these are informal calculations gathered via our independent research and is in no way affiliated with or should be construed to represent Amazon, Kindle Vella, or any other Amazon entity.
None of the authors, contributors, administrators, owners, or anyone else connected with Book Genie, in any way whatsoever, can be responsible or liable for your use, reliance, or distribution of the information contained in or linked from these web pages. We respectfully remind readers that we assume no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this data. The information contained here is provided for general informational purposes only on an "as is" basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness. Percentages listed are rounded.
Genre Label Distribution in the Top 250
Series Genre Distribution in the Top 250 Faved List
The first chart displays the most frequently occurring genres in the top 250 faved list on Kindle Vella. We determined these numbers by relying on the genre designations (both primary and secondary categories) for each series. For example, if a series is listed as dystopian and paranormal, that series was counted once in dystopian and once in paranormal. The author's story "tags" were not factored into this analysis. In descending order the genres represented on Vella are ranked as follows:
| Genre | Percentage | Change from Prior Month |
|---|---|---|
| Romance | 25.8% | +3.1% |
| Fantasy | 11.8% | -2.3% |
| Paranormal | 11% | +0.3% |
| Action & Adventure | 8.3% | -1.2% |
| Science Fiction | 7.2% | -0.8% |
| Teen & Young Adult | 7% | -1.2% |
| Humor | 5.6% | +1% |
| Erotica | 5.4% | +1.2% |
| Mystery | 4.3% | -0.1% |
| Thriller | 4.1% | +1% |
| LGBT Fiction | 3.1% | -0.4% |
| Dystopian | 2.7% | -0.9% |
| Historical Ficition | 2.1% | +0.2% |
| Nonficiton | 0.4% | 0% |
Distribution of Total Episode Likes per Genre in the Top 250 Faved List
This chart displays the distribution of episode likes attributed to each genre. As in the previous chart, each episode "like" has been counted twice: once in the primary genre (category) designation for the series and once for the secondary (category) genre designation of the series.
For series with only one genre designation, the likes were attributed only to that single genre. This graph, in comparison to the previous, allows us to draw some insights into the engagement levels for each genre.
For example, in the first chart, Paranormal ranked as the third highest occurring genre designation on the Top Fave leaderboard, following Romance and Fantasy. However, when we compare total likes, we can see that Paranormal series earned significantly more likes than Fantasy series (again for those series ranked on the Top 250 list).
Romance series earned the greatest number of likes per episode, which makes sense since the largest number of series on the Top 250 list are categorized as romance.
Distribution of Volume of Episodes Published per Genre in the Top 250 Faved List
This third chart shows the relative volume of episodes published by genre for series that ranked on the top 250 Fave List (grouped again by genre designation for both primary and secondary genres). This is an inclusive roundup, meaning that all episodes available for purchase by readers in November 2021 were counted, regardless of when they were published by the author. As you can see, the genres with the highest representation on the Top 250 Fave List (Romance, Fantasy, and Paranormal) are also the genres with the highest relative rate of published episodes.
Average Likes per Episode by Genre in the Top 250 Faved List
My favorite metric is captured in the table above: likes per episode.
Likes per episode is one method by which authors can evaluate the performance of a series. Authors can use this data to set goals, make projections, and to evaluate their series relative to similar series.
In the chart above I have recorded the likes per episode for each series and once again assigned the results to both the primary and secondary genre designations.
While there are many factors that can indicate how a series is performing (unlocked episodes, story follows, etc.) authors can use episode likes to gauge the relative "engagement" of their readers, since likes are a very visible way authors can see that in fact a reader "engaged" with the episode.
While this might be overwhelming news for authors with small overall episodes likes, there is good news. Dividing the likes a series has by its number of published episodes provides an average like per episode. If you compare a 100 episode series to a 10 episode series, a small series may have the same ratio of published episodes to likes.
For example, a series with 100 published episodes and 50 likes has the same "relative engagement" as a series with 10 published episodes and only 5 likes. While the goal of every author is to grow likes and paid episode unlocks, the average number of likes per episode can be a great way to see the performance of your series relative to series with much larger numbers.
I find it interesting to note the genre that has the highest engagement on Kindle Vella (based solely on the average episode likes) as of December 1st appears to be Nonfiction, after which we see Paranormal, Romance, and Dystopian.
Genre Combinations in the Top 250
Most Frequently Occurring Genre Combinations in the Top 250 Faved List
The above chart displays another way to look at the genre designations for the series on the Top 250 Fave List. In the previous charts, each story was given two scores, one for each genre designation. The chart above combines the two genre categories for each of the Top 250 series into one "designated genre combination."
What that means is that instead of a dystopian paranormal series being counted once in dystopian and once in paranormal, we counted the series as "dystopian paranormal." In so doing, we compare not only the two genre designations per series, but the overall genre pairings used in the top 250 faved list on Kindle Vella. For clarification, the genres Paranormal/Romance and Romance/Paranormal are labeled under one group: Paranormal Romance.
Accordingly, the top three most frequently occurring combinations are as follows:
- Paranormal/Romance (11.2%)
- Erotica/Romance (7.2%)
- Romance/Humor (6.4%)
The Top 250 Compared by Rank
Average Series Likes for Series on the Top 250 List
In the next series of charts including the one above I wanted to compare series in the top 250 List. For this analysis, I've created an average of the total likes in groups of 25. The reason for this is the current page view on Vella indexes series on the Top 250 List in groups of 25 per page.
The above chart shows the average number of likes each series has accumulated over the total numbers of published episodes for each group (page). So the series that rank between 1 and 25 on the Top Fave list average 3,080 likes per series.
Average Number of Published Episodes of a Series by Rank on the 250 Top Fave List
The chart above looks at each series by its rank in the top 250 Faved List group by 25 (the per page view on the Fave List). This chart reflects the average number of published episodes per series, so series that rank between 1-25 on the Fave List average as of month-end November 2021, 38.16 published episodes and so on.
Average Likes per Episode of a Series by Rank on Top 250 List
The final chart in this series groups series by their position on the top 250 Fave List again per page view, 1-25, 26-50, and so on. This chart provides the average number of likes that an episode has received for series per page view, 1-25, 26-50, and so on. So for example, series that rank between 1-25 on the Fave List averaged 81 likes per episode.
Insights
Romance has seen huge growth
In the month of November (2021), the romance genre increased its majority share of the top 250 Faved series on Kindle Vella. In particular we’ve seen a rise in Erotica/Romance as well as Humor/ Romance. However, Paranormal/Romance remains the dominant genre combination on the platform. Romance makes up a staggering 29% of episodes on the top 250 Faved List and a whopping 34.5% of the total likes.
Multi-Genre listings remain prominent on the Top 250 List
Consistent with October data, we can see that in November it was more common for a series with two categories/genres to be listed on the Top 250 List than a series with only one genre category identified in the story details. In particular, the number of series that combine Romance with another genre have increased in presence on the Top 250 list over October.
Leading Genres
At the time of writing this article, Paranormal, Romance, and Dystopian series are the fastest growing genres (as determined by likes per episode) on the Top 250 Faved List.
Top Performing Series have more published episodes on average
As we can see from the chart, the higher ranking series on average have more episodes available to their readers than those which rank lower.
Top Performing Series have higher rate of likes per episode
The charts suggest that series higher on the Top Fave list received higher rates of likes per episode than series lower on the list.
**There are many ways to evaluate the performance of a series, including using data that Book Genie would not have access to, including series follows, paid episode unlocks, reviews, and "crowns," or the number of "fave" designations a series has received from readers. Using publicly available information about Likes, Numbers of Episodes Published, and etc. is one method to review data and draw conclusions, but this data alone will of course not create a complete picture of the performance of any series.
If you'd like to learn more about writing and marketing a series on Kindle Vella, consider joining our community on Book Genie. We offer classes on craft for writers at all stages of their careers, marketing and platform building services, and we have a robust network of free resources and community discussion where you can engage with professionals as well as peers for moderated discussion and evidence-based content.
If you're a writer on Vella, reach out with questions or comments any time. If you decide to share this graph or data, please be sure to use the image with the Book Genie logo and acknowledge the team whose efforts put this information together. We appreciate your consideration!
