Tiers 1 - 3: The tiers that define who you are as a writer and your support networks

The first three tiers are fundamental to every writer, and they tend to be the tiers that writers will rush to complete, because they are also the tiers that take the most time for little return. But without these three tiers solidly in place, your entire writing career is resting on shaky ground.

Tier 1: Mindset

The bottommost tier of the Prosperous Creation hierarchy is mindset. Yes, having a positive mindset is part of it, but during this tier, Monica Leonelle takes you through exercises to find mentors (writers who have recently progressed to the next level) and your peers (writers at the same level you are). Both groups form your support network, so you don't become a lost lamb. It is your support network who will help you to develop the tools and skills needed to combat self-doubt and to progress during your career.

Tier 2: Craft

There is a lot more to craft than just putting the words on the page. Yes, you need to understand the mechanics of writing—voice, story structure, show vs tell, punctuation and grammar, AND the specifics of your genre—but part of developing craft is putting in place your feedback loops. It's finding your critique partners and beta readers. Any editors you work with also fall into this tier. And for those heading down traditional publication roads, your agent would fall in this tier too.

Another part of craft: the tools you use. It's your word-processing program. It's your stationery and computer. It's the clock on the wall and the diary you use to track your progress. (Are you starting to see how some of this stuff can easily be overlooked?)

Tier 3: Rhythm

Once you have your mindset and craft down, then look at your writing habits, developing strategies to increase your productivity that work for you. As you grow as a writer, your rhythmic patterns will change and require constant refinement. It is a trial-and-error process.

But it is during this tier you focus your efforts on building consistency in generating your product. Without a good product, you have nothing to sell.

Tiers 4 - 7: The marketing tiers

Tiers 4 through 7 are the marketing tiers, where you look at getting your product out into the big, wide world.

Tier 4: Paths

Tier 4 is the first of the marketing tiers. It is about developing your first sales funnel to drive readers to your books. The goal is to put a single sales funnel in place and to find your marketing personality.

Tier 5: Fortresses

In tier 5, you repeat tier 4. You put in one sales funnel. Now do it again.

I should point out that Monica Leonelle advises against running specials and promotions until you have mastered the skills necessary for generating multiple sales funnels. Her reasoning: If you continually use promotions and specials to gain readership, your fans will expect it, and you will only ever see sales when you run a special or promotion.

Tier 6: Bursts

Tier 6 encapsulates the specials and promotions that you will occasionally run to help support your sales funnels. But it is only with the evergreen systems that you have put into place during tiers 4 and 5 that the bursts of tier 6 work well.

Confession Time: I too had fallen into the trap of running specials and random promotions to sell editing services, but it didn't work. It was only costing me money. So, I stopped. Some years ago, I decided (upon the advice of one of my mentors) to not run a special again, because I didn't have the client-base to support such a venture. It was refreshing to see the same advice from Monica Leonelle. It was for different reasons, but the theory still holds. No specials until those valuable sales funnels are in place.

Tier 7: Community

Tier seven. The Holy Grail for every writing career. Building a fan base that sells your books for you.

This tier is about building the network of fans who will just gobble up anything that you produce and help you spread the word to other readers.

Only a few writers will ever make it to this tier. The reason: Because the rest of us have a nasty habit of skipping steps and rushing the process.

And the tier we tend to miss is one of the bottom three, most commonly mindset.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

During my recent bout of self-doubt, while reading Monica Leonelle's book, I realized that I too was trying to put the cart before the horse. Between my writing and editing activities, I have multiple projects that I try to balance—and often fail.

That's why I spiraled into self-doubt this last time—or at least part of the reason.

I have a solid support network of peers for both my writing and editing activities, and I have mentors for my editing, but mentors for my writing… Yeah… Oops… Forgot that step.

I have a good command of my writing skills, but my feedback loops are lacking. I'm still hunting for critique partners and beta readers. Saying that, because of my frustrations in building my feedback looks for my personal writing, I've taken to hiring a developmental editor of my own. But the feedback loops for the editor side of my career… I suppose this is where professional development and training comes in.

But for me, it's the rhythm tier that I have been struggling with for a long time—for both my writing and my editing. It's only just now falling into place, giving me the confidence that I need to push myself and progress to the next tier.

And setting up the first sales funnel scares me more than you could possibly know.

I don't pretend to be the best marketer on the planet. I recognize my weaknesses and I know my strengths. But by adapting some of the exercises presented by Monica Leonelle, I'm getting a better understanding of who I am as a writer and as an editor.

The Writer in You project

In 2018, I developed a workbook designed to help writers understand their own hopes and dreams—and their writing habits. It was a series of questions to target those aspects of ourselves that form the sources of our self-doubts.

I have always believed that if you understand what it is you want to achieve, and what you want your writing career to look like, that you can develop strategies that work for you to help you obtain your ultimate goals.

Without understanding this aspect of ourselves, we can fall prey to self-doubt, where we compare ourselves to others based on the standards and expectations imposed on us by others. And we forget why we are writing. We can lose sight of our own dreams and motivations.

I am currently revising The Writer in You workbook, and hope to relaunch it soon.

If you would like a copy of the current workbook, and would like to be informed of when the new resources become available, then please subscribe to my newsletter.

In the meantime, check out Prosperous Creation by Monica Leonelle. It might get you thinking about what steps you might have missed on your writing journey.