Trust Me, I’m Lying

Confessions of a Media Manipulator

By Ryan Holiday

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About the book

Ryan Holiday, who once ran marketing at American Apparel, describes his years as a media strategist for Dov Charney, Tucker Max and Robert Greene, and explains how he fed stories to blogs in order to steer the wider news. The book has two parts. The first shows why blogs matter, how they set the agenda and how they can be gamed; the second traces what happens when that manipulation works, when it backfires, and what today's media system leads to. Examples include Politico's early coverage of Tim Pawlenty and a Jezebel attack on The Daily Show. It is also the origin of trading up the chain, in which a story starts on small blogs and climbs to ever larger outlets.

Tim Ferriss praised Holiday as part Machiavelli and part Ogilvy, and Fark.com founder Drew Curtis endorsed it as an accurate primer on hacking the media zeitgeist.

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This book has 10 recommendations

Drew Curtis (Founder/Fark.com)

This primer on how to hack the media zeitgeist is so incredibly accurate, it just might render mainstream media completely useless. As opposed to mostly useless like it is now.

Aaron Ray (Partner/The Collective)

When playing for high stakes, Ryan Holiday is my secret weapon. His unique stealth manner makes him essential for winning.

Tim Ferriss (Author & Entrepreneur)

Ryan is part Machiavelli, part Ogilvy, and all results. From American Apparel to the quiet campaigns he's run but not taken credit for, this whiz kid is the secret weapon you've never heard of.

Matt Mason (Director of Marketing/Bittorrent)

Ryan Holiday is a man you should listen to... [He] has a truly unique perspective on the seedy underbelly of digital culture. Ignore him at your peril!

Edward Jay Epstein (Author/The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood)

Ryan Holiday's absolutely brilliant expose of the unreaility of the Internet should be required reading for every thinker in America.

Robert Hajnal (Founder/Trail Running Academy)

I am currently reading Trust me I'm Lying - Ryan Holiday: I'm trying to get ideas for online marketing strategy for the project I'm currently developing: trailrunningacademy.com

Andra Zaharia (Freelance Content Marketer/The Content Habit)

While I was thinking of the best books to add to this short list, I realized that not even half of them are directly related to digital marketing. This is because I believe that the best marketers are people who understand human nature deeply and aim to bring out the best in it. Call me naive, but that’s how I see it. If I were to want to pursue a career in marketing, I’d read [...] Trust Me, I'm Lying.

Robert Katai (Founder/Instagramology)

This year I finished reading “Trust me, I’m lying” from Ryan Holiday and it made me think how to use the media, content and other tactics to help the company I work for to be more present on the internet. I know that Ryan wrote that book a few years ago and the social media, blogging and online marketing mediums back then were very different, but there were a few simple ideas that made me take my laptop and start working, even in the middle of my reading moment. I believe these are the books worth reading and recommending.

Andrew Elliott (Founder/GoDesignerGo)

As a former automotive blogger/journalist this was an interesting read considering this kind of stuff was seen by myself and my coworkers on a daily basis.

Recommended by Aaron Watson (CEO/PiperCreative)

Source: Aaron Watson, CEO at PiperCreative, Shares His 'Why' For Reading

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