Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator [Hardcover]

Ryan Holiday (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 19, 2012

You’ve seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don’t know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me.

I’m a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs—as much as any one person can.

 

In today’s culture…
1) Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post drive the media agenda.
2) Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.
3) Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see and watch—online and off.

Why am I giving away these secrets?  Because I'm tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided.

I’m going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ryan Holiday is part Machiavelli, part Ogilvy, and all results…this whiz kid is the secret weapon you've never heard of."
—Tim Ferriss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek

 

“A playbook for the dark arts of exploiting the media”
—Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power

 

"This book will make online media giants very, very uncomfortable. "
— Drew Curtis, founder, Fark.com

 

“Ryan Holiday's brilliant exposé of the unreality of the Internet should be required reading for every thinker in America.”
— Edward Jay Epstein, author of The Big Picture”

 “The strategies Ryan created to exploit blogs drove sales of millions of my books and made me an internationally known name.” —Tucker Max, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

“Ryan has a truly unique perspective on the seedy underbelly of digital culture.”
—Matt Mason, Director of Marketing, BitTorrent

“Behind my reputation as marketing genius there is Ryan Holiday, whom I consult often and has done more for my business than just about anyone.”
—Dov Charney, CEO and founder, American Apparel

"...an astonishing, disturbing book"

—Financial Times

“In the world of the internet celebrity, Ryan Holiday is the smart and handsome type, like the Arthur Miller to the girl who uploads YouTube videos of herself naked and eating ice cream.”
—Ladygunn Magazine

"This is a dark book with an important warning to clients and PR people alike."

—Richard Edelman

 

"[Like] Upton Sinclair on the blogosphere."

—Tyler Cowen, MarginalRevolution.com

About the Author

Ryan Holiday is a media strategist for notorious clients such as Tucker Max and Dov Charney. After dropping out of college at 19 to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, he went on to advise many bestselling authors and multiplatinum musicians. He is currently the director of marketing at American Apparel, where his work is internationally known. His campaigns have been used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google and written about in AdAge, the New York Times, Gawker and Fast Company. He currently lives in New Orleans and writes at RyanHoliday.net.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; First Edition edition (July 19, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159184553X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591845539
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Management > Social Media for Business
  • #3 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Public Relations
  • #19 in Books > Computers & Technology > Internet & Web Culture > Blogging & Blogs

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

399 of 470 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The mask is off ! August 2, 2012

By Karma Yogi

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Make no mistake. This is not some reformed offender coming clean after some soul searching, as the author is attempting to project himself. And no, this book is not a free manifesto to download to help us clueless masses get enlightened about the ways of the media. No sir! This is a man with an overpriced product to sell, a man out to remove money from your pocket using the exact same tricks he deployed in his book for his clients.

In the book he talks about Jeff Ritze (one of his many fake profiles) who went about planting deceptive stories (using fake email addresses) in the media to help his clients manipulate public perception, sell more and make a fortune.

The author continues to use that self-same deception to now sell THIS book.

In the book's description he says, "Why am I giving away these secrets?...I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided". But alas, he goes about promoting this book using the exact same fraud that he describes delivering for his clients.

Here are some of them...

----------------
1) Fake profiles
----------------
'C.L.Mershon' was the FIRST person to give this book a 5-star review. CL Mershon then hangs out in the comments section, answering questions from readers, bending over backwards to resolve their queries, as if he were the CUSTOMER SUPPORT person for the book! And if that was not enough of a giveaway, he then religiously UPDATES his review to bring you Ryan Holiday's "LATEST" exploits in the media. :)

----------------
2) Assistants that neutralize enemies on the net
----------------
One of the reasons I updated this review is to inform readers about the speed with which people swarmed in and marked my review UNHELPFUL. Within minutes of my posting, 3 people had marked it UNHELPFUL! By the following day, a whole bunch more had marked it unhelpful. The speed with which this happened indicates that the author's assistants (that he has admitted to using in the book) are hard at work here too.

Here's more proof that the author uses virtual assistants. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles has 244 five star reviews but do u know how many people have clicked its LIKE button on Amazon? Just 43. Compare that with this book under review Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator. It has just 28 five star reviews and do you know how many LIKES? 63!

Steven Pressfield, the author or War of Art is a world famous author with a massive fan following, while Ryan Holiday the author of this book is a total newbie.

Yet, the former has just 43 likes despite 244 five-star reviews while the latter has 63 LIKES with just 23 five-star reviews.

This can only happen when an army of cheap, elance powered VAs (virtual assistants) from Bangalore (India) are swarming the net clicking UP for the author, and clicking DOWN for all opposition.

See, it's easy to get a VA to hit a LIKE button or mark a review as UNHELPFUL. All it takes is a click. But getting VAs to write 5-star reviews is not so easy. That takes brains, not so cheap to buy.

But there is a way to cleanse the world of media manipulating viruses like Ryan Holiday. And that's by staying away from ANY BRAND he is associated with, because you can be sure the brand employs deception and fraud to manipulate your perception.

Spread the word : Avoid anything or anyone associated with Ryan Holiday. Let's make the world a better place.

57 of 66 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable, Eye-Opening Read July 24, 2012

By Bradley Bevers TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book makes the other books I have read on social media and blogging virtually worthless. Holiday lays out more effective plans, proven by his track record, and pulls it off for less money. If you have any interest in business, social media, or blogging than it is a must read.

That said, I think it does ultimately fall short of its potential for a few specific reasons. The good outweighs the shortcomings, but there are people I won't recommend the book to because of them. First, the good.

The Good

* Ryan Holiday can write. He is a great writer, and this is a refreshing read.
* Gut-wrenching info on the structure of today's media. Literally made me sick to my stomach at points.
* Content is very strong, delivers high value for the money. If you are thinking about getting this, get it - you will get the best marketing advice you have read for a pittance.
* Well-researched, funny, and an entertaining read.

The Bad

* The structure of this book is a little muddled. It's really three books in one. First, it is a confession of what Holiday has done for his clients. Secondly, its a book on how you can do it yourself. And lastly, its a book that proves that you should not do it and should actively fight against how the media is structured.
* Because of the three-books-in-one, I have found that I have fewer people in my sphere to recommend it to. There are many people that I wish I could give the warnings about the media portion to, but the other parts of the book would be useless to them. For me, and probably for any entrepreneur, the whole book is valuable - for the general public, not so sure.

The Ugly

* The writing is very good, the content is excellent. But, Holiday inserts vulgarity at various points in the book that detract from its value. The internet and media portions of the book have enormous value, but some of the style choices take away from the value rather than add to it.

Holiday is young and will have many more books in his future. I have followed his reading list for close to a year, and anyone who reads as much as he does has much to offer. If you have any interest in the media, buy this book. It is eye-opening, scary at points, and disenchanting . . . you will also learn a lot. Recommended.

81 of 96 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Unless You're Naive About How the Media has Always Worked, Don't Bother August 18, 2012

By Caestus

Format:Hardcover

Hello,

I checked this book out of a local library and planned to buy it if it were really good. I'm glad I saved my money.

Holiday opens the book with a cautionary tale about how a political blog called Politico followed Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty around and "made" a Presidential candidate out him even though he was previously ignored by major publications such as the New York Times. Pawlenty was thrust into the political spot light which, Holiday writes, he never desired in the first place, as a result of Politico's efforts. The end result? His candidacy was very short lived and Pawlenty fell off the map just as quickly as he appeared. Holiday posits that this some sort of manipulation because no one would have paid Pawlenty any attention if it weren't for Politico. My question is, "So what?" Politico decided to follow a politician around and write about it. It generated some interest for him and hits for their blog. The people listened to what he had to say and pushed him aside all the same, so ...who exactly got manipulated? This all sounds more like grass-roots reporting to me. Regardless, even though Pawlenty turned out to be a dud, what if he became the greatest President the country has ever seen? Politico would have been heroes!

Weaker still is writing about his work with Tucker Max's movie I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell and the clothing company American Apparel. Max's movie grossed less than $2 million against a budget of $7-$8 million and American Apparel is a penny-stock company with NEGATIVE earnings! So what does that say about the effectiveness of his methods? If Holiday is putting these relationships on his resume and using them evidence for blog-driven media manipulation, he must not have much to work with. Of course, the book itself may be Holiday's last ditch effort to prosthelytize these endeavors!

More importantly, after reading Trust Me, I'm Lying the big take away for me was "Beware, sometimes `journalists' are full of it!" If you didn't already know that, then this is a good place for you to start. For people who are savvy enough to explore both sides of an argument, check author's references or carry with them a healthy amount of skepticism, this book is not for you.