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.
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.
The author of The Martian gave away the book for years before it caught on and made money for him and that book is outstanding.
Writing is a career not a one time book. Even then, it's a hard career to make a living at. Many people use books to express their ideas as a way to improve their true career. Think politicians that are running for office. Or people that want to improve their resume.
You need to continue to promote your book and hope it catches on. Think of it as a hobby until you can turn it into a career.
Also, if you tell me it's written by AI, I automatically think it's not something I want to read. I can get any LLM to write stuff to read. I don't need to buy a book. Use AI to help you but use your own style and words to write something people want to read. People are writing books written by AI by the thousands. You need to standout in that crowded market place. Good luck.
Writing is a hard business. If you aren't willing to write the first five books just for yourself why bother? Selling 5000 copies is a bar very few books meet.