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Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World Kindle Edition

by Kristen Lamb (Author)

136 customer reviews

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Get the book that has best-selling authors buzzing over the new age of publishing!

*********

Here we are—the future is now. The machines have taken over. Everything is computerized. People no longer talk, they text. What number do we have to press to get a flesh and blood HUMAN?

It’s easy to feel like we’re losing our humanity when surrounded by computers, cell phones, and text messaging, but here's the good news: The same machines that seem to be stealing our humanity also have the power to restore it. Yes, you read correctly. The more we embrace technology, the more distinctly human we can become.

The new author in today's publishing world is a cyborg of sorts—part human, part machine. The machine part allows us to compose series of words, copy them, email them, and then send them across the globe with a push of a button. We can research faster and more accurately than ever before. We can communicate with people all over the planet real-time and virtually for free. The new power technology has given writers has made us, in effect, superhuman.

Branding has broken free of marketing’s shackles and merged with personal identity. If we want to thrive in our new environment, we need to adapt, to apply technology as an extension of our humanness.

This is not a book to teach you 1,000 ways to blast people with advertising. The WANA Way is different than anything you’ve likely encountered. It is constructed using the timelessness of art, blended with the strength of human relationships. Platforms are more than a zillion ways to try to part readers from money; they are living works of art and meshed with the soul of the writer-artist.

The machines are rising, but humans were here first.

*******
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:
“For writers, the purchase price of Kristen Lamb’s Rise of the Machines should easily become the best investment you’ll ever make for your writing career. In Kristen’s brilliant and easy-to-grasp book, not only will you learn how to become a successful marketer of your work—whether it’s published by a legacy press or self-published—and achieve significant and ever-increasing sales of your work, but you’ll learn how to without spending hours and hours each week to do so. Rise of the Machines is the standard—the cutting edge."
-- Les Edgerton, award-winning author of HOOKED and FINDING YOUR VOICE

“In Rise of the Machines, Kristen Lamb has provided an invaluable compass for navigating the uncharted waters of 21st century publishing. I pity the writer working today who doesn’t take advantage of the wealth of valuable insights and breakthrough methods contained in these pages.”
—David Corbett, award-winning author of THE ART OF CHARACTER

Length: 330 pages

Word Wise: Enabled

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

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Product Details

File Size: 1023 KB
Print Length: 330 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: WANA International; 1st edition (June 27, 2013)
Publication Date: June 27, 2013
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00DP7II4A
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,124 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #676 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing Skills
- #1077 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Marketing & Sales > Marketing
- #1728 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Writing Skills

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Customer Reviews

136

4.8 out of 5 stars

5 star		81%
4 star		18%
3 star		1%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

"Mastery is borne of total immersion"

By Debra Eve on June 30, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I'll admit the idea of turning into a writing cyborg at first disburbed me. But by the end of "Rise of the Machines," Kristen Lamb convinced me that "the more we embrace technology, the more distinctly human we can become."

Until now, I've viewed Kristen as a humorous and insightful social media blogger. In this book, she also proves herself a first-class arbiter of social media philosophy (without losing her sense of humor). She delves into the history of technology, drawing from sources such as Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Greene, and Neil Postman. Did you know, for instance, that Goethe predicted our current dilemma? He saw the future as a "velicopedic age," characterized by speed and the deadening of the human spirit.

Kristen calls her solution "WANA" -- We Are Not Alone. It's simultaneously a movement, an Internet community, and an intimate manner of book marketing. She advocates a "holistic" approach to social media, one that sees platform as "a living work of art that is meshed with the soul of the writer-artist."

Don't worry if all this sounds big and vague. She covers specifics in sections titled "Learning to Blog" and "Putting Together a Plan" -- ten steps to build an author platform, including crafting a "word cloud" to find all the facets of your "brand" (a term used loosely to mean "who you are").

Kristen mostly targets fiction authors, but as a nonfiction writer, I found plenty of tips I'd overlooked. This week I'll be working Kristen's plan as I learn to align my platform to art and soul, share more of myself online (difficult for an introvert, but Kristen provides guidelines), and totally immerse myself in this brave new world!

Highly recommended, especially if you're new to online platform building and feeling a bit intimidated.

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

Kristen Lamb: The Obi Wan Kenobi of Social Media

By A. Marie Silver on July 25, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Where was this book a year ago? (Bangs head on table!) I spent months reading blogs and articles written by social media "experts" each providing tips on how writers should market themselves, their books and their blogs. I followed their advice but in doing so felt used, dirty and socially inappropriate. I sent direct messages on Twitter that read "Thanks for the follow. Now read my blog and "Like" my Facebook page." If it was a social media no-no I did it all because the "experts" told me too. I even had an author blog that focused on my "expertise" as an writer. I am an expert at changing diapers, and watching Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathons. I am not an expert when it comes to writing a novel or getting published...well....not yet anyway.

Kristen's advice, tips and tricks are easy to understand and implement. Did you know that fiction writers aren't experts? They're story tellers! Don't believe me? Read this book! She covers it. Kristen breaks down the necessities for writers and authors from building a word cloud and platform to writing a "high concept blog". Added bonus: She does it with a sense of humor. Her advice will leave you feeling clean and accomplished.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

If marketing isn't a strength of yours, this book is for you

By Becca Puglisi on November 5, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I am not a person for whom marketing comes intuitively, so this books is a lifesaver. Kristen not only explains how to effectively use social media to market your book, she explains why her methods work—how culture has changed due to the long-reaching effects of today's technology. I've already begun recommending this book to writers, and I will continue to do so.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Lost in cyberspace? Strategies for building your brand using social media

By Kit Dunsmore on August 22, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

Since my novel is still an incomplete draft, I figured I wasn't really ready to build an author platform using social media. When someone suggested that my writing is just a hobby, however, I decided it was time to prove otherwise. I bought Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World and read it eagerly. And it turns out I am ready to get serious about my online presence, because Kristen Lamb makes it easy.

Lamb's done her homework and has produced a book that is both fun to read and full of insight about the impact of technology on publishing and life as a writer. She explains why marketing books is not like selling shaving cream and how to increase use of social media to become more human instead of less so. Her advice is practical, sensible, and doable. Don't get me wrong. She expects you to work hard, but anyone determined to be a professional writer should be ready to suit up and fight.

I've been thinking for months that I should be blogging, but I couldn't figure out what to blog about. Thanks to Lamb, I now know how to find blog topics that will be natural and fun for me to write about, and how I can use my story-telling skills to increase my online community so that when my book is ready for the public, there's a public interested in reading my book.

While she talks about social media sites, Lamb doesn't waste your time with specific features in specific programs. Instead, she lays out the logic behind getting onto the most popular social media sites and how best to behave once you are there. If you need to know how to make some Twitter feature work, this is not your book. If, however, you are a writer (fiction or otherwise), and you are looking for a way to use social media and blogging to build an author platform online, then you can find the guidance you need here.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

it's nice to have it all in one place

Rise of the Machines is essentially proof that the WANA Way works. I've been reading Kristen's blog for a few years now, and I've had the occasional Twitter exchange with her - so... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Icy Sedgwick

"You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

I wish I read this book about eight months ago before launching my first blog.

Kristen Lamb breaks down social media, an author platform (blog), and more in the most... Read more

Published 1 month ago by David Villalva

I'm raring to get started building a platform that will be fun and...

My mind is on fire after reading this book. I get it. I finally get it! There's a blueprint for starting out in social media with clear goals so you don't feel yourself floating... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Atlantic

Be A Proper Person

The chapters that really re-sharpened my focus as a creative writer and illustrator all contain the same message (which, *slapping my forehead, is something we all knew but have... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Gueh Yanting, Claudine

Excellent advice

Excellent advice for authors in a world where you can't trust everything you read.

Published 1 month ago by Tahlia Newland

A great kick in the pants.

So much good stuff in here. I was pleased that I'm on the right track. Kristen gives so many good ideas for how to promote and sell books without begging for sales. Read more

Published 2 months ago by JVDLA

Great Primer for branding

As a brand consultant for many creatives including indies, a lot her insights about creating a personal image is bang on. Read more

Published 2 months ago by A.Dalcourt

Very helpful and inspiring!

This is an informative and inspiring book, unique in its perspective among the many marketing books for writers. Ms. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Piccolo Kate

Incredibly useful book!

The most useful thing I've read on Author Platforms, hands down. Changed my mindset and solidified all my ideas of what to do with my author platform. Excellent book. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Janice D

" branding feels like fun! I never expected that

Before reading this book, I was intimidated by the idea of platforming/branding. I'm an artist, not a saleswoman! But I was intimidated because I didn't understand. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Melissa K.

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