[julianshapiro]

Wrote a guide that summarizes the science of building muscle: https://julian.com/learn/muscle/intro.

It made a few thousand in Amazon referral fees after being at the top of HN, Product Hunt, and Designer News for 4 days. As these traffic spikes wear off, I expect it to continue at at least $1k/mo.

To maximize referral fees, I use this clever service called A-fwd, which geo-redirects visitors to their appropriate Amazon.tld so that they can make a seamless purchase without switching regions. This also allows for my affiliate codes to stay intact, and for me to collect worldwide Amazon affiliate revenue.

I also had to learn the ins and outs of Amazon Associates policies, which are incredibly finicky (no Amazon links in emails, no showing product pricing on your homepage, etc.) and frequently results in unannounced account closure that requires you to pester their support team to get things back online.

[novaleaf]

I saw that HN post, it is a very impressive piece of work btw.

It also seems like a good fit for the HN / entrepreneur space. Was this intentional? IE did you plan it this way before starting the guide, or was it a marketing plan you figured out after it was already done?

[julianshapiro]

Thank you!

I chose the subject independent of the audience — despite knowing how to distribute to the tech audience.

I can't write something I'm not passionate about or don't want to learn myself.

But I was fortunate that this topic appeals to many in the tech space — or at least a scientific approach to this topic does. I am an engineer myself, so I'm naturally writing for a likeminded audience.

Ultimately, almost anything can hit the front page of HN. This is a smart, considerate, and curious crowd. Good content tends to make its way to the top regardless of the niche/market.

[agentdrtran]

This is the best resource I've ever seen, thank you for doing this. The training videos are great.

[pknerd]

Thanks mate you responded. Somehow I could not find this post earlier.

[imatworkyo]

what are the safest unnatural ways to gain muscle mass?

[julianshapiro]

I'm not qualified to answer that. I neither experimented nor researched such methods. Sites like T-Nation and Bayesian Bodybuilding might have some quality advice on this. I think there were also some relevant guests on Tim Ferriss' podcast that you can look up.

[omash]

What's PH and DN?

[julianshapiro]

expanded abbreviations — thanks for asking

[omash]

It made me laugh the way the guide turns into an Amazon shopping list. I started finding it hard to trust at that point. I wish you'd quote more studies.