First eBooks launch: 9k+ downloads, 600+ upvotes on Reddit

Note, this post was originally published on Kuma Learn’s blog.

In the past week (15 January), I posted a couple of free Kuma Learn eBooks on Reddit’s /r/LearnJapanese community. It got far more attention than I expected. Thank you for your support and contributions that led to this post. 🙏 Here, I share some of my learnings and highlights of the launch.

The stats

First, the stats: the post got a lot more activity than I initially expected! This was my first post, so I had fairly low expectations. But by the end of the day, the post led to:

• 7k+ downloads, for the two free eBooks posted
• 600+ upvotes

All numbers that overshot my expectations. It’s been a few days since and the download total has increased to 9k+ (as of 20 January)!

Lots of support

From the very beginning, people showed support and love for the free resources that were posted. The first comment:

There was clearly something new that Kuma Learn offered, which people enjoyed. Some even suggested they’d pay for the free resources:

Others suggested they’d be sharing the resources with others!

Reading these comments and engaging with the community has convinced me to expand on Kuma Learn and offer more resources to those learning Japanese!

Acting on feedback

In addition to the overwhelming support, many people took their time to provide constructive feedback. One thing I worry about when I get feedback is whether I can act on them; with the feedback I was receiving, I was able to understand what needed to be fixed and where I had fallen short.

I acted on the feedback in near real-time. With every piece of feedback I received, I did my best to incorporate them and publish a new version of the eBooks. By the end of the day, I had published six versions of one eBook and four versions of the other. By acting on their feedback straight away, I was learning new things. If I hadn’t acted on feedback, I may have only come out with a few learnings. Instead, as I fixed problems, readers flagged new issues and presented new things I could learn. That’s the value of acting immediately on feedback!

Thank you

I hope you enjoyed this post. 😊

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Please feel free to reach out to me at mario@kumalearn.com if you have any comments or feedback. You can follow Kuma Learn on Twitter, Instagram.