Ask HN: How do you handle app store discovery?

My buddy and I have recently released an indie game[1] to the App Store but are somewhat puzzled as to how to achieve some of the crazy download statistics other teams seem to be achieving. Our social follower numbers aren't anything to write home about, and our wives would beat us to death with our keyboards if we spend any more cash beyond what we already have.

Most information out there says to spend an absurd amount of cash on advertising. Any other useful gems seem to be carefully hidden away because the few people who figured out the formula don't want the rest of us catching on.

For the successful app/game indie devs out there, how did you gain enough traction to make a living?

At the moment we're less worried about retention, we understand that if our game sucks evolution will take its course. We're more interested in how people get those 10k+ numbers in their first week or two for reasons we seem to be missing.

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dungeon-slammers-drop/id962292082?ls=1&mt=8