Reddit Launch Guide

The chapters

1. 1How Reddit actually works for makers

   Reddit isn't one website you post an ad on. It's thousands of separate communities, each with its own rules and moderators, and they welcome real people who join the conversation, not those who are only there to drop links and disappear.

2. 2Get your account ready

   Start preparing weeks before you start posting. New Reddit accounts and accounts with little history are often filtered automatically, and a real history of helpful comments is what makes people trust your post.

3. 3Find the right communities

   Post where your future users already hang out, not just where makers post, and spend five minutes checking each community before you commit to it.

4. 4Read the rules properly

   Most removals come from a rule the poster didn't read or didn't understand, so read every community's rules before you post, and look for the unwritten ones too.

5. 5Write a post that isn't an ad

   Lead with something useful or interesting to the community (a story, a lesson, real numbers, a question), and let your project be part of it rather than the point of it.

6. 6Timing and pacing

   Spread your posts out, one community at a time, at a time when its members are around, and never paste the same post everywhere on the same day.

7. 7The first two hours

   Stay with your post after it goes up, reply to every genuine comment thoughtfully, and treat criticism as free research.

8. 8When it goes wrong

   Removals, filters and downvotes happen to almost everyone; work out which one happened, fix the cause, and don't take it personally.

9. 9Measure what worked

   Track which posts brought visitors and sign-ups, not just upvotes, so you know where to spend your time next.

10. 10Keep showing up

    A launch is one week; being a helpful, familiar name in a few communities over months is what keeps bringing people back.

Start with chapter 1