Prosperous Creation: Make Art and Make Money at the Same Time

by Monica Leonelle

Ready to make art AND money, at the same time?

Monica Leonelle has written the playbook for authors on building a sustainable writing career as an independent publisher.

The path to becoming a full-time author is clear cut, but no one is talking about exactly what you need to focus on, and when. This book is for authors who feel overwhelmed and overworked while trying to reach their dreams of writing full-time. With this book, you can end the confusion of what marketing tactics to implement, how to make it in this industry on a budget, and answer the age-old question of, “Why isn’t my book selling?” at any point in the process.

In Prosperous Creation, you’ll learn about the seven tiers of prosperous creation and figure out what tier you’re at. From there, Monica gives you 2-3 straightforward goals to focus on to help you move through that tier faster. By working on the few most important things for the stage in your career you’re at, you’ll be able to block out all the noise, conflicting advice, and comparisonitis—and reach your writing goals sooner as a result! Plus, when you get to tiers 4 and up, that’s when you start to see your money grow.

The Prosperous Creation system will help you:

- If you haven’t finished your book
- If you struggle to get reviews or sales
- If you feel overwhelmed by marketing your books
- If your books are not getting great feedback
- If you’ve had some success but are ready to get to the next level
- If you jump around between projects without finishing the one in front of you
- If you have seen a HUGE drop in sales recently and don’t know how to build them back up
- If you are having trouble keeping the readers you find engaged
- If you are seeing some success but feel totally burned out by your current workflow
- If you haven’t hit a steady 4- or 5-figure income per month that feels predictable and reliable
- If you’ve been stuck on the same writing, publishing, and marketing problems for months at a time
- If you are ready to build sustainable business systems and processes that let you write more

As the independent publishing industry matures, it’s not enough to be a good writer, know the latest marketing tactics, have a good cover, pay for an editor, or build an email list. Instead, you need a solid strategy in place that will help you weather any storm, build real fans that keep reading you year after year, turn your writing success into a long-term business, and get you out of the 16-hour drain of working for yourself. The Hierarchy of Prosperous Creation is the playbook you’ve been waiting for. It covers all stages of an author career, from just starting out, all the way up to mega-success!

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2017

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was okay. Too much advertising of her other books, courses, and newsletter.

[Jim Wilbourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then I find a book that I wish I'd found first before I read anything else on the topic. This is one of those books.

Monica Leonelle pulls together all the advice you hear from books, blogs, and courses into a cohesive overview of the path you need to walk to be a successful author. Additionally, her method can easily be extrapolated to apply to many other creative endeavors if you're willing to do a little extra work to understand the concepts rather than just passively read them.

The steps provided are presented in a way that allows you to easily recognize when you're ready to move on to the next level or when you need to back up and do some more work on a previous step. This is so important because I (along with so many others) have a bad habit of searching for carts to place in front of my horses.

While Leonelle doesn't dive very deep into each step, the purpose is to understand the path and when you've graduated to the next step. She has other resources (listed in this book) that can help you dive deeper into every part of the journey.

Going forward, this will not only be a primary reference book for my career, but this will also be a book that I will suggest to anyone who's considering an author career along with a few other great books.

If you're ready to make art and money at the same time, this is your starting point.

[A.M.]

I got an early ARC of this when I signed up for Monica’s course.
https://proseonfire.com/
I’m not a big fan of FB so any course that relies on you being in a FB group is not going to get a lot of FB visits from me. [well, okay… none] but there was a website with videos etc loaded. But back to the book… there’s a few ideas rehashed from her earlier writing books, a lot about sales funnels, email marketing etc.
If you’re selling the talk, I expect you to be walking it.
I first heard of her through the Sterling & Stone guys when her books were in a boxed set with them. I signed up for one of Monica’s ‘prose on fire’ courses and paid up. And this week, after many weeks with no course updates, and no responses to comments, there was a message to say she’s ditching the course to re-brand it in a new way. And the new fee will be US$6,500. With discounts and plans for the people who are already in it.
*blinks*
Maddy Raven is Monica’s fiction pen name. They used to be kept separate but recently linked up. On Goodreads, as at August 2017, none of Maddy’s publications have more than a two digit number for reviews, and one has the worst average I have ever seen at 2.3 stars for 43 reviews.
Some of the books under her name are doing better but there’s a 1.75 star average in there. It seems she ran a GR giveaway and didn’t have a book written to giveaway. As far as I know, it wasn’t just late, it was never written. People were not happy. *winces*
I get that she’s tried and failed, but she’s selling ‘how to write/ increase your sales’ books and she doesn’t seem to be succeeding. So the disparity is jarring.
Monica is marketing and selling her process, herself, and her pen name. She’s really good at talking about marketing.
This is the 5th book in the ‘growth hacking’ series. According to kindlespy, her current Amazon US sales over the last month are $87 for Maddy and $850 for Monica. I know the program isn’t perfect, but it’s going to be in the ball park. She says she’s making a living from writing, but I’d suggest it’s from selling writing courses.
I don’t think that counts as walking the walk you’re selling.
This is super hard for me to say. She seems like a nice person, I know she’s had some issues, and she has some good ideas that I’ve said helped me in older reviews of her work. I wish her the best.
I’d much rather mark this as dnf than give it a grade. But I also feel like I need to be honest. I’m conflicted and that’s why I’ve put this in a spoiler bracket.
I won’t be signing up for her new course. I won’t be buying more of her writing books. It’s not worth putting any more cash into. That’s just me, of course. It’s really not working for me. You may have your own experience.
***
I must admit I didn’t expect to read this:.

I have also learned that co-writing will work best for me under Maddy Raven, because while I love doing outlines and beats for romance books, and while I love editing them to get the emotions and tone just right, I don’t feel a deep desire to do the full initial drafts myself. Since I’ll be getting help on the production of these books, I should be able to deliver them more consistently, which is good for me, good for the brand, and good for the readers who love it! (Kindle Locations 802-805).

So she wants to be a writer who doesn’t write?
Having been on the writing end of just such an offer from someone who didn’t intend to put my name on any of the writing credits, it makes me feel rather wary.
Did not finish at 40%

[Yesenia Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

So ready to level up

This book is jam packed with actionable tips and advice for indie authors. I can't wait to sit down and do some journaling about where I'm at on the Hierarchy of Prosperous Creation and where I need to go next. This is truly groundbreaking work from Monica.

[Gillian Kevern · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to read the first two chapters of this back in December, and I have been waiting impatiently for this book ever since. Leonelle's tiers just make a lot of sense.

I read a ton of writing self-help and advice, but this was a really helpful addition to my collection, containing as it did a completely different take on it. I am planning to do a rehaul of my writing practices, starting with Mindset, and work my way through the tiers this year alongside my usual writing.

[B.J. Hyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected more. I had read three of her other books and this one didn't give me as much as those did.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard this author speaking on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Podcast and was struck by how thought-provoking she was. So I kept plugging away even though the tone of this book rubbed me the wrong way (both too New Age and too get-rich-quick for my tastes).

And I'm very glad I did! Because the last third of the book had some really insightful thoughts on how to take a burst-based (sales and launches) business and turn it into a more stable income stream. Even better, she had great thoughts on nurturing readers beyond the point where they buy your book. I'm now looking forward to later books in her series!

[Terri Trainor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book -- it helped me put some structure to my first-time author overwhelm and start taking things step by step. The broken links to resources I was eager to explore (with no viable workaround) really bummed me out, though. I was very curious what was on her "/hierarchy" page, but the linkout pops you into a Dropbox without access to content. This said, I did buy other books by Monica, I really enjoyed her wisdom and advice and am grateful she took the time and energy to share it.

[Camy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew absolutely nothing about marketing before reading this book. I didn't even know what a sales funnel was. The book was extremely helpful to me. The author gives a very good overview of basic marketing principles and the difference between a strategy and tactics. The strategies are broad, but she encourages you to brainstorm specific ideas and find people to gain insight from because the market changes so fast, and anything she writes in the book can change in the blink of an eye. it's this broad overview that I found particularly helpful.

[Adam Mangum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really got a lot out of this. Much of it seems intuitive, but it's laid out so helpfully. This book has helped me come up with a plan to take more control over my author career.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always learn a lot reading books like these and so appreciate when people share what they've learned about being a working creator.

[Mr Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really inspiring. My brainis bursting with plans and ideas. I will definitely be revisiting this one.

[D Reviews Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great info. I can't wait to put it to use! The only concern is the near constant promotion links. I'd love it if those had been in appendix instead.

[Angel Leya · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! Monica details the steps you need to take to go from creator to authorprenuer. It's an easy read with lots of big ideas, and loads of information if you want to delve deeper into any of the tiers. I'm planning on posting the tiers on my wall with the steps needed to complete it so I can have a visual reference to where I am. I kind of loved it all (even the WooWoo stuff). :) And it has me excited for what I can do as an author to make a living off my work. It's a great read for artists of any medium, and especially for authors looking to level up their game.

[Sara Crocoll Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read! If you want to get serious about being a creative entrepreneur and indie author, reading about the Hierarchy of Prosperous Creation is a must. Step by step instructions on how to jumpstart your indie author career. Take ample notes, reread, and soak it up!

[Marina Aris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid resource for indie authors who are trying to get a grasp on all of the moving parts in self publishing. To get the most out of this book you need to do more than read it. It introduces many actionable steps, so you will have to give those a try.