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12 points lucaherrorpress | 0 comments | | HN request time: 0.191s | source

I wrote two satirical books about algorithmic manipulation (GPT-5 drafts + Claude editing, fully transparent about it). Zero Amazon sales for months.

Posted free PDFs on Reddit's r/nosurf Friday: - 5,300 views in 3 days - #12 post of the day - Main criticism: "AI slop instantly detectable" - Best response: detailed breakdown of everything I did wrong

The feedback boiled down to: I skipped community building, went straight to Amazon, no beta readers, no early supporters. Published first, looked for audience second. Classic backwards approach.

One commenter said: "Find a community, become respected member FIRST, share progress during writing, collaborate with peers at your level, THEN launch when 50-100 people are waiting."

I did the opposite of every point.

For those who've successfully launched indie content/products (especially critical of tech systems): what's the actual path in 2024?

Substack + email list first? Reddit/forum engagement for months before launch? Something else?

Not looking for promotion—genuinely trying to understand if this is salvageable or expensive education for the next project.

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jackfranklyn ◴[] No.46184829[source]
The Reddit commenter nailed it - community first, product second. But there's a timing thing people miss.

You can't speedrun trust. I've been building software tools for accountants and spent months just answering questions in bookkeeping forums before anyone even knew I made anything. No links, no mentions, just being useful. Eventually someone asks "what do you do?" and the conversation happens naturally.

The 5.3K views means the topic resonated. The zero sales means they didn't trust you yet. That's not fixable with better marketing copy - it's a relationship problem.

For your next project: pick one community, show up consistently for 3-6 months, share your actual process (failures included), and let people watch you figure things out. By launch time you won't need to convince strangers - you'll have 50 people who already know your work.

The Substack/email thing works but only if you're already interesting to someone. Cold signups don't convert either.

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