To get a long-form explainer article written around your product, you need a publisher that will walk a reader through one clear buyer decision, name the product in context, and place one product link where that reasoning lands. Piece Press publishes that format: longer decision explainers with enough depth for a reader to cite and enough clarity to act. Community coverage is free with a reciprocal site credit, or free with a nofollow product link. Five free pieces go live each day at 08:00 UTC. A $29 piece goes live the day it is ready. This SideHunt guide is for side-project and indie makers who want that deeper page, not a blurb and not a logo listing.
Plans were checked on 6 November 2026. Disclosure: Piece Press is run by the same team as SideHunt and the other Hunt / Aura++ sites.
Last checked: Nov 6, 2026
What is a Piece Press decision explainer?
Piece Press writes for the decision: tradeoffs, fit, and when the product is the right call. The page is longer than an opener-first story. It is not a multi-product shortlist and not a daily-edition news feature. One buyer question, answered in depth, with the product named in context and one product link in the article.
On Free and $29 plans that product link is dofollow (no rel nofollow, sponsored or ugc). On the Nofollow plan it uses rel=nofollow. Piece's pricing page states the domain rating is 0 and that the page does not promise a ranking, a traffic number or a movement in that rating. Always inspect the live URL.
When does a long explainer beat a short write-up?
Buyer state | Better format | Desk |
|---|---|---|
Already comparing named options by criteria | Shortlist | Listed Press |
Needs who/what/for-whom in a few lines | Opener-first story | Hed Press |
Wants a feature in a daily product edition | Edition story | Lede Press |
Stuck on one decision with real tradeoffs | Decision explainer | Piece Press |
Side projects often skip the explainer because it feels heavy. That is exactly when it helps: one page that answers "should I switch from X to this?" without a sales call.
What does Piece Press cost?
Free reciprocal: one decision explainer per project, dofollow product link, site credit to piecepress.com required (badge optional), shares five free slots/day at 08:00 UTC.
Free nofollow: one explainer per project, product link rel=nofollow, no site credit, same free pool.
$29 editorial: unlimited explainers per project, dofollow product link, same-day publish, SEO/AEO/GEO pass, FAQ schema, Article and product structured data, llms.txt and Markdown twin, custom featured image, Pinterest pin, IndexNow, up to three tomorrow relaunches.
Projects are free. Paid pages do not take free slots. Piece's pricing notes that agencies commonly charge $500 to $1,000 for coverage on a site you do not run.
How do you submit a decision explainer?
Create a free project on Piece Press.
Pick reciprocal free, nofollow free, or $29.
Submit the product URL and the single buyer question the piece should answer.
Include tradeoffs and non-fits, not only strengths.
If reciprocal free, credit piecepress.com while the piece is live.
When the explainer is public, read it end to end and inspect the product link.
Piece Press writes the page on piecepress.com. You are not waiting for a guest-post acceptance email.
What buyer question should you pick?
Good Piece questions are narrow:
"Should a solo consultant leave Google Docs for a client portal?"
"When is a static site enough, and when do you need a small CMS?"
"Is a hosted form tool enough, or do you need a full survey product?"
Weak questions are slogans: "Why our tool is amazing" or "The future of productivity". If you cannot name the decision, you are not ready for Piece; consider Hed Press for a short opener-first story instead.
What should the submission brief include?
The buyer and the situation they are in.
The options they are weighing (including "do nothing").
Where your product fits and where it does not.
One or two checks a reader can run without talking to you.
The exact URL to link.
Honest non-fits make the explainer cite-worthy. Hype makes it sound like an ad.
How does Piece fit next to other editorial options?
MakerHunt covers the wider menu in how to get editorial backlinks as an indie maker. EarlyHunt separates editorial vs directory backlinks. Aura++ covers classic press pitching in how to get press coverage without a PR agency. Piece is the desk for one deep decision page on a domain you can open the same week.
As of 6 November 2026, Piece Press showed empty today / yesterday / last week / last month sections when checked. The plans and get-published flow are live; treat empty editions as a new desk, not as missing pricing.
How do you verify the explainer after publish?
Open the live Piece URL. Confirm the piece answers one decision, names your product in context, and carries one product link whose rel matches your plan. Use how to check if a backlink is dofollow if you want the inspection steps spelled out. Date the row in your sheet.
A made-up example: Marlpaper gets a Piece explainer
Marlpaper is a made-up Markdown notes app for people who write long drafts offline and sync later. The founder picks one question: "Should a long-form writer leave Google Docs for a local-first Markdown app?" They submit to Piece Press on the free reciprocal plan, add a footer credit to piecepress.com, and include tradeoffs: great for drafts and version folders, weak for live multiplayer commenting. When the explainer is live they inspect the product link and share the URL in a launch post aimed at writers who already feel Docs pain. No ranking claim. A decision page a reader can finish.
How should a side project use a long explainer?
Side projects rarely have a sales team. The explainer has to do quiet work:
Link it from your docs under a "Should I switch?" or "Is this for me?" heading.
Send it when someone asks a careful question in a community thread, not as a cold dump.
Reuse sections you are allowed to quote on your own blog, with a link back to the Piece URL.
If your side project is still a weekend prototype with no clear buyer decision, ship product first. Piece is for a decision a real person is stuck on.
Piece Press vs writing the explainer yourself
You can always write a long decision post on your own domain. Do that when you want full editorial control and an owned URL. Choose Piece when you want a third-party desk to publish the explainer on piecepress.com with one product link in the article, under the free or $29 plans above. Both can coexist. Do not pay $29 for a piece you could have published on your own blog unless the third-party URL is the point.
What the $29 pass changes on an explainer
On Piece, the free page is still a decision explainer a reader can open, with one product link. The $29 pass adds the SEO/AEO/GEO editing, FAQ schema, Article and product structured data, agent surfaces (llms.txt, richer Markdown twin), a custom featured image, a Pinterest pin, IndexNow, and up to three tomorrow relaunches. That is markup and distribution around the same core job: one buyer question answered in depth. It is still not a ranking or citation guarantee.
Mistakes that waste a Piece submission
Asking the piece to cover five buyer questions at once.
Hiding non-fits.
Submitting a landing page that still says "coming soon".
Expecting Piece to publish a shortlist of competitors you did not brief.
Counting the link before reading the explainer yourself.
Long-form explainer FAQ
How do I get a long-form explainer article about my product?
One path is Piece Press: submit a single buyer question and product URL, choose free reciprocal, free nofollow or $29, and get a decision explainer on piecepress.com with one product link in the article.
Are Piece Press links dofollow?
On Free reciprocal and $29, yes. On Free nofollow, the product link uses rel=nofollow. Inspect the live page.
Does Piece Press promise rankings or AI citations?
No. Piece states that a ranking is a separate decision and a citation is not promised. The $29 pass builds cite-ready surfaces; it does not buy a citation.
Is a longer piece better for SEO than a short one?
Length alone is not a strategy. Piece's own rationale is that readers and answer engines need more than a tagline for some decisions. Whether any system ranks or cites the page is still outside what the publisher controls.
Write the decision, then submit
If a long-form explainer is the asset you want, open the Piece Press get-published page, compare Piece Press pricing, pick one buyer question, and verify the live link before you add it to any launch checklist. For side-project shipping habits around launch week, keep using SideHunt for product work and Piece for the decision page that explains the product to a careful reader.