Content Distribution Playbook

March 2026 — How to get your stuff seen without a second full-time job.

Related: creative-career-pivot-assessment Related: execution-plan-phase-0-1-2 Informs: Projects/tech-blog

The Constraint

You have maybe 5-10 hours a week. Two kids. A full-time job. Extroversion costs tokens. The distribution strategy has to be efficient by design, not ambitious by aspiration.

The rule of thumb for solo creators in 2026: spend 30% of your time creating and 70% distributing. Most engineers invert this — they spend all their time writing and none getting it in front of people. That's why great posts get 47 views.

The Pillar Content Model

Don't create separate content for each platform. Create one pillar piece and atomize it.

One blog post (pillar)
  → LinkedIn post (summary + hook + link)
  → Dev.to cross-post (full text, canonical link back to noindex.co)
  → Hacker News submission (if the topic fits)
  → Reddit post in relevant subreddit (if the topic fits)
  → 2-3 short clips if video version exists
  → Newsletter issue (when you have one)
  → JP translation (when ready — doubles everything)

One piece of content. 6-8 distribution touchpoints. 30-45 minutes of distribution work per post.

Platform-by-Platform Breakdown

Tier 1: Where Your Audience Actually Is

LinkedIn — Your primary distribution channel for now.

• Your audience (engineers, PMs, founders, AI practitioners) lives here
• Post format: 1-2 paragraph hook → key insight → "full post at noindex.co" link
• LinkedIn rewards text posts over link posts in 2026. Write a native post that stands alone, then add the link in the first comment or at the end
• Videos under 30 seconds get 200% higher completion rates — if you make a build log video, cut a 30-second teaser for LinkedIn
• Post 1-2x/week when you have content. Don't post filler.
• Time cost: 15 minutes per post (write hook, adapt from blog post)

Hacker News — The high-variance play.

• One HN front page hit can generate more traffic than months of LinkedIn
• Your Polyphony post ("I Made Different AIs Argue About a War") is HN bait — novel, technical, surprising result, low hype
• The edge-llm post (WASM + WebGPU inference in the browser) is also HN-shaped — genuinely novel technical work
• Submit with a straightforward title. Don't editorialize. Let the content speak.
• Time cost: 2 minutes to submit. Zero if it doesn't hit.
• Reality check: Most submissions get zero traction. When one hits, it changes everything. Gergely Orosz's newsletter broke through via one HN post early on.

Tier 2: Developer Communities

Dev.to — Cross-post the full text of your blog posts with a canonical URL pointing back to noindex.co (this tells search engines your site is the original). Dev.to has a built-in developer audience and good engagement on practical content. Free, takes 10 minutes to set up and 5 minutes per cross-post.

Hashnode — Alternative to Dev.to with custom domain support. Choose one or the other — you don't need both. Dev.to has more community engagement; Hashnode has better SEO if you use their custom domain feature. Since you already have noindex.co, Dev.to is the better choice — you're using it for distribution, not hosting.

Reddit — Subreddit-specific. Relevant subs for your content:

• r/MachineLearning, r/LocalLLaMA (edge-llm, Polyphony)
• r/ExperiencedDevs (founder-to-IC content, staff eng patterns)
• r/webdev (WASM/WebGPU content)
• Don't just drop links. Write a real post with context. Reddit punishes low-effort self-promotion.
• Time cost: 10-15 minutes per relevant post (write context, respond to comments)

Tier 3: Amplification (When You Have Something Worth Amplifying)

Newsletters that curate — If a post gets traction, pitch it to newsletter curators:

• The Pragmatic Engineer (Gergely Orosz) — features interesting technical posts
• TLDR — daily tech newsletter, accepts submissions
• ByteByteGo — systems design audience
• Pointer.io — curated engineering reads
• How: Most accept submissions via email or a form. Short pitch: "I wrote about [X]. Here's the link. Thought your readers might find it interesting."
• Time cost: 15 minutes to send 3-4 pitches. Only do this for your best pieces.

Twitter/X — Optional. If you're not already active, don't start an account just for distribution. LinkedIn + HN + Dev.to covers the bases. If you are active, post a thread version of your best posts.

Tier 4: Future (When Ready)

YouTube — When you start making build log videos. YouTube is a search engine, not a social network. Videos get discovered for years, not days. Optimize titles and descriptions for search (e.g., "Building a Multi-Agent LLM Simulator for $25" not "My Cool AI Project").

Substack / Newsletter — When you have 500+ email subscribers from the blog. Not before. A newsletter without a list is just a blog with extra steps.

Japanese platforms — When you start producing JP content:

• Qiita (Japanese developer community, equivalent to Dev.to)
• Zenn (newer JP dev platform, growing fast)
• Note (Japanese Substack equivalent)
• JP LinkedIn is growing but still small
• These immediately put you in a space with almost zero bilingual AI practitioner competition

The Weekly Workflow

For someone with your time constraints, here's what a realistic week looks like:

Week You Publish a Blog Post (~2-3 hours distribution)

Week You Don't Publish (Maintenance Mode)

That's it. No daily posting. No content calendar anxiety. Publish when you have something to say, distribute it properly, then go back to building.

What to Post First

Your three draft blog posts, ranked by distribution potential:

1. Polyphony ("I Made Different AIs Argue About a War") — Highest HN potential. Broadest appeal (non-engineers find it interesting too). Surprising results. Share in r/MachineLearning and r/LocalLLaMA. Pitch to TLDR and Pointer.

2. Multi-Agent Orchestration in Production — Best for LinkedIn and r/ExperiencedDevs. Practitioner audience. Less viral potential but builds credibility with the right people.

3. Sigil / Agency Pain — Best for founder/PM audiences. Share on LinkedIn and Indie Hackers. Less technical reach but connects to the founder-to-IC niche you identified.

Recommendation: Publish Polyphony first. It's your best shot at early traction because it's genuinely novel and has a great title. If it hits on HN or Reddit, you get a traffic spike that populates your "other posts" sidebar for the follow-up pieces.

Tools That Save Time

What NOT to Do

• Don't post daily. You don't have the time and it dilutes quality. 2-4 posts/month is plenty.
• Don't optimize for followers/subscribers yet. Optimize for "one post that genuinely resonates." The audience finds you through breakout pieces, not through consistent mediocrity.
• Don't cross-post to Medium. It's SEO-hostile (they want traffic to stay on Medium) and the developer audience has largely moved to Dev.to, Hashnode, and Substack.
• Don't build a newsletter before you have readers. The blog IS the newsletter for now. Add an email capture form to noindex.co. When you hit 500 emails, consider Substack or Buttondown.
• Don't try to be on every platform. LinkedIn + HN + Dev.to + occasional Reddit. That's four. Any more and you're spreading too thin for a parent with two kids and a day job.

The 30-Day Kickstart

By day 30 you have: 3 published posts, each distributed to 4-5 platforms, data on what resonates, and a public URL that proves you know what you're talking about. That's the Phase 0 exit criteria from your execution plan — accomplished.

Sources

• Content Distribution Strategy: Maximize Reach 2026
• 20 Rules for Content in 2026 — RPN
• LinkedIn Content Strategy for 2026 — PostKing
• Content Repurposing: Complete 2026 Guide — Planable
• In Plain English vs Dev.to, Hashnode, Medium, Hackernoon — 2026
• Building a Technical YouTube Channel (2026)
• The Most Popular Blogs of Hacker News in 2025
• Content Marketing Plan for Solo Creators