Subscription Tools to Help New Authors Monetize

Case Study: Prose

Prose, a digital publishing platform for aspiring authors, partnered with Melt Studio to strengthen their product and add monetization tools. Together, we transformed Prose’s MVP—fixing bugs, refining the user experience, and introducing a powerful subscription engine. In just three months, the platform was relaunched with new features that boosted author engagement and revenue potential.

Projc

THE CHALLENGE

Build Subscription Features on Top of a Buggy MVP

Prose needed to evolve from a basic MVP into a functional, scalable platform with monetization tools. Key challenges included poor UX, platform bugs (email notifications, post publishing, etc.), and lack of mobile optimization. Subscription features like paywalled content and Stripe payments had to be built from scratch—while improving reliability and preparing the platform for growth.

INITIAL STATE

OUR SOLUTION

From Platform Fixes to Full Subscription Infrastructure

Requirements

Simplification

We reviewed and clarified user stories for better alignment. Our team worked to simplify the tech roadmap, reduce bugs, and lay the foundation for subscription logic—ensuring each feature fit Prose’s business model and user needs.

Application

Building

We implemented Stripe integration, subscription paywalls, author tools for gated content, and gamification features. All features were built with a JavaScript-first stack using React and Node.js, maintaining scalability and user clarity.

Prototype

Release

Over three months, we conducted six demos and rolled out iterative updates. The new version launched with major UX improvements, author monetization tools, and bug fixes—resulting in a 16% revenue lift within two months.

DELIVER STATE

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

More Monetization, Better User Experience

Authors now access intuitive tools for managing paid content and tracking subscribers. Mobile responsiveness and email flows were fixed, and new analytics help authors monitor growth. The Prose team continues evolving the platform using our foundation.

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Rob

Rally Chat

Camila, I really appreciate the extra efforts you have made on the app this months. I feel you went above and beyond to create scalable solutions consistent with the existing design. You achieved far more than I thought was going to be possible going in, and the new version of the app gives me a lot more confidence to go into sales mode.

I've dm'd you a gift card code for Amazon as thanks.

August 6, 2024

Sang - Duk Seo

Every Mother

A quick shoutout to Melt, it's been several months now and it's clear that our new dev team has been crushing expectations all around. Shoutout to Camila who has been killing it on uhc and flex, especially on uhc, which basically gave us documentation for a platform that only exists in their dreams. Considering she's doing this without a test environment which uhc guaranteed us, Camila has put in a lot of elbow grease to make this implementation seemingly smooth sailing. Additional shoutouts to Yuli and Miguel who both have stepped into the shoes of past RPS teammates to support internal operational functions as well as put the pedal on the gas to churn out product developments. Lastly to Yulys and Austin who have seamlessly taken in the project reigns from Natali alongside the rest of Melt. Special shoutout to Sebastian who is always helping from the shadows but more recently has been contributing a great deal of effort to help resolve some longstanding revenue analytics issues. So thank you to our Melt teammates for being able to hop in immediately, helping EM put some very big pieces into place at this critical moment of our company's growth! 🎉🎉

August 6, 2025