Most distribution advice is written for a product that isn't yours. "Launch on Product Hunt, post on Twitter, do SEO" is fine as a checklist and useless as a strategy, because the channels that work for a Shopify app have almost nothing in common with the channels that work for an open source library.

The difference isn't effort. It's where the buyers already are. Shopify app buyers are inside the Shopify App Store with commercial intent. Open source users are on GitHub and in the issue trackers of adjacent projects. Newsletter readers are on other people's newsletters. Each of those is a different playbook, and running the wrong one is the most common way indie builders spend six months on distribution and get nothing.

These twelve guides split the problem by product type. Start with yours.

Developer and technical products

Distribution Strategy for Developer Tools Builders covers the channels where developers actually evaluate tools, which is rarely where marketers expect. If you ship an API rather than an interface, Distribution Strategy for API Product Builders deals with the specific problem of selling something whose value only becomes obvious after integration.

Distribution Strategy for Open Source Project Maintainers is the odd one out in this list, because adoption and revenue are separate funnels and the tactics that grow one can quietly kill the other.

Products with an app store in the middle

When a marketplace sits between you and the buyer, the store listing is the product page and store search is the primary channel. Distribution Strategy for Shopify App Builders and Distribution Strategy for Browser Extension Builders both work this problem, and Distribution Strategy for Mobile App Builders covers the version of it where paid acquisition is usually the only thing that scales.

Software sold directly

Distribution Strategy for SaaS Builders is the general case: no marketplace, no store, just you and the problem of being found. Distribution Strategy for No-Code App Builders covers the variant where your users found you through a platform community, and Distribution Strategy for Productivity Tool Builders handles the hardest positioning problem in this list, which is standing out in a category where everyone claims to save time.

Distribution Strategy for Design Tool Builders leans on a genuine advantage most categories don't have: designers share their tools publicly, so the work itself becomes the channel.

Audience-first products

Distribution Strategy for AI Product Builders deals with a market where attention is enormous and differentiation is nearly impossible, which changes what a launch is worth. Distribution Strategy for Newsletter Builders is the inverse, a slow compounding channel where every subscriber is a direct relationship.

Once you've picked your playbook

Product type tells you which channels are worth your time. It doesn't tell you what to say when you get there. For that, the indie marketing guide covers positioning, launches, and finding the specific people who want what you built.

And if you'd rather not guess which playbook fits you, the free Stride audit reads your landing page and your X account and tells you where your users actually are.