Ryan Holiday's Blog, page 37

Welcome to Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

Release week for Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator is here. If I am as good as I say I am in the book, you should be hearing, seeing and reading a lot about it.* If you want updates on what’s happening about the book, tour dates for me, and links to articles I’ve written recently, check back to this post going forward. If you’re coming to this site for the first time, the links below should tell you a little bit more about me. Or just read this bio. Hope you stick around and don’t forget to subscribe to my reading recommendations

**If you really want to help me out or haven’t bought the book yet, pick up an extra copy on Barnes and Noble. It’s same price as Amazon and counts better for my NYT list sales**

**There is also special deal for the book on AppSumo this week. You can give it as a gift since it comes with a bunch of extras**

Upcoming Events/Appearances:

7/18: TUNE IN LIVE: Marketing Master Mind Session with Lewis Howes at 8pm EST

7/19: TUNE IN LIVE: Media Mayhem with Allison Hope Weiner at 4pm EST

7/19: Book Launch Party in New York City (hosted by Michael Ellsberg). All are welcome, must rsvp. 9pm est

7/31: Book signing @ Octavia Books in New Orleans

8/15: Book signing @ Book Soup in LA

8/22:

Articles I’ve Written:

UnCollege.com: How Dropping Out Can Change Your Life

FourHourWorkWeek.com (Tim Ferriss): The 5 Top-Performing American Apparel Ads, and How They Get PR for Free (NSFW)

Forbes: What is Media Manipulation? A Definition and Explanation

Columbia Journalism Review: Our gullible press, Ryan Holiday explains how the singular pursuit of traffic…

Forbes: How Greenpeace Manipulated the Media Like a Pro: Analyzing the Shell Oil Hoax

Forbes.com: How Your Fake News Gets Made (Two Quick Examples)

[Much more to come this week]

Interviews:

TechCrunch: Keen On…Ryan Holiday: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

Huffington Post: Ryan Holiday, Author Of ‘Trust Me, I’m Lying’, Wants To Break The Media

Chase Jarvis Live: 90 minute mastermind interview with me

CTV: Me discussing the future of music and Alex Day

Tribal Author: Book Marketing Breakout: Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me, I’m Lying

Rise to the Top: Exclusive 90 min interview with me

Daily Dot: Media manipulator Ryan Holiday finally comes clean

Communication Lab: 1hr podcast with me on writing, media manipulation and news

BoingBoing: Gweek Podcast (really good)

Recent Press:

New York Post: PR exec tells all about manipulating the media — and spreading lies online

Forbes: How This Guy Lied His Way Into MSNBC, ABC News, The New York Times and More

Daily Dot: Exclusive excerpt: “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator”

Austinist: Tucker Max’s Publicist Is Really Good At His Job

BoingBoing: Man Punks Journalists

FastCompany: “Media Manipulator” Ryan Holiday Proves His Point By Getting This Story Published

Poynter: NY Times, CBS, others fix stories that featured fake expert Ryan Holiday

BoingBoing: Book trailer: Trust Me, I’m Lying

MediaBistro: 24-Year-Old Marketing Director Lands Major Book Deal

DIY Themes: How A Reformed Media Manipulator Uses The Web To Generate Sales

Silicon Bayou News: Book Review: Ryan Holiday’s Tell-All on Manipulating the Media

For those of you new to me and my writing altogether, here are some of my most popular posts:

The Narrative Fallacy (also see The Soundtrack of Your Life Delusion and The Second Act Fallacy)

Advice to a Young Man Hoping to Go Somewhere

Schemes and Scams

Read to Lead: How to Digest Books Above Your “Level”

Contemptuous Expressions

A False Sense

Stoicism 101: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs

The Experimental Life: An Introduction to Michel de Montaigne

Is This Who You Want to Be?

The Dress Suit Bribe

*This blog has never focused much on my work (writing instead about philosophy, life and strategy) and I’ve only talked a little bit about my book here. I plan to keep it that way, so don’t worry. However, with the publicity for the book and all the press planned for this week there is going to be a rush of new readers.

The Swarm Strategy (How to Learn About Anything)

Someone asked me recently about my reading habits and how I decide what I want to read. In the past, I’ve liked to use the rabbit hole analogy: falling down the endless hole of a subject, person or place. In my “read to lead” strategy, I talk about doing this by finding your next book to read inside the text or works cited of the book you’re currently reading. But I’ve tweaked my habits lately and it wasn’t until I had this conversation that I noticed.

I don’t fall down a hole, I swarm. Take the American Civil War, which I’ve recently been reading about. After a few years of scattered books on the topic, in early in 2012 I swarmed the topic. I detailed part of what I read on it in my last Reading List Newsletter.

The Civil War: My Obsession

I’ve been so deep [into the] Civil War that I lost track of all the books. Of course it started last year when I read Sherman by BH Liddell Hart. I came to admire Sherman so deeply that I read two more books about him: his amazing Memoirs and a big old book from 1933, Sherman: Fighting Prophet. From there I went on to Grant’s Memoirs, which are incredibly readable and deeply moving. After that, I read both of Robert Penn Warren’s quick books (mostly on the cultural significance and character of the war):Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back and The Legacy of the Civil War. I was briefly curious about Nathan Bedford Forrest but a read of That Devil Forrest and his shocking Wikipedia page make it clear to me that the guy is the definition of a psychopath. I also read large parts of Shelby Foote’s epic The Civil War: A Narrative (mostly the Vicksburg campaign and Sherman’s march) as well as parts of The American Civil War by John Keegan. Finally, I read the biographies of a bunch of Southern/Civil War writers in Patriotic Gore by Edmund Wilson, which helped me understand and contextualize what I’d already read from the people listed above. I don’t know if you guys need to follow me so deeply down this hole, but I strongly recommend at least exploring it. It’s totally changed how I see so much of history. I think I can say with confidence now that I “understand” the Civil War, and that feels good.

To give a complete picture of what I’ve consumed on the topic though, I would need to add: All 10 hours of Ken Burn’s documentary Civil War. A trip to Vicksburg (twice) and Natchez. At least 50 long form articles on the Time’s Disunion blog. Nearly everything in The Atlantic’s Civil War commemorative issue, countless Wikipedia pages and other random articles I saved in Instapaper. I read all of Ambrose Bierce’s fiction about the Civil War, along with many stories he wrote after and purchased and flipped through two biographies about him. I read a great, popular non-fiction book about Lincoln’s assassination and the hunt for Jefferson Davis. I had long conversations about the war with anyone who would listen. I even bought a beautiful painting of Sherman, which I hung on my wall.

I’m not going to call myself a Civil War buff because that’s stupid. This isn’t an idle pastime. I think you can see from list that I had a clear plan of attack. I was deep diving into a subject and surrounding it from all angles. I didn’t want to simply understand it from books, I needed to see parts of it in person, here is through the indirect perspectives of biographies and literature and I needed to digest it with the help of people smarter than me. When I have picked the carcass clean enough–taken the lessons I can and will use from my learning–I leave, relquishing the pedantic details for the buzzards behind me. Then move on to the next kill.

In the last year or so I’ve done this with a couple other subjects and authors to varying degree, such as Raymond Chandler or the city of Los Angeles. The idea being that if I really, really want to learn about something, casually pursuing one book to another. No, you must set upon it consequentially, concurrently and comprehensibly. Nothing works in learning quite like total immersion. Immersion allows you to make connections. It allows you to challenge the authors you’re reading (or let one author challenge another and then stick with the victor)

So there you have it: the swarm strategy. It’s simple. Find a topic it. Forget the rabbit hole and instead win by utterly overwhelming force. And then of course, it’s time for the final and most important step: moving on. After devouring one subject completely, be sure to find another.

Take Little Steps

I can’t think of that much I WANT to do but haven’t. The reason is simple: I generally do what I want, close to when I decided I wanted it

I have a friend who is not like this.”I’m thinking about traveling to China,” he’ll say. Knowing him, I always respond: “Dude, you will never go to China.” His reply is beautifully the same every time: “I could totally go to China [or whatever he's dreaming about that day]” You could, but you don’t. He never does.

I think it, I assign it. I assign it, I do it. He thinks it. And leaves it at that. As though figuring out how much it will cost, committing to saving up the money and then later, booking the trip is some insurmountable task. Of course he could do all those things, but that was never really the choke point.

This is why exercise is such a good metaphor and lesson. If you want to be able to run 10 miles, what to do about it is fairly simple: Start by running one mile. (which itself requires only putting one foot in front of the other). Then slowly run more until you can. In any sport, the path is the same. No matter how small or big the goal: You must commit and then start.

I don’t tell myself I’d like to go for run today. No, I going to run. And not just today but nearly everyday. The same goes for everything else I have ever decided to do or wanted to do, from my book deal on down.

I’m not going to claim that these things are easy by any stretch. But they are simple. And when I compare myself to other people I noticed that we both say the things we want to do or like to have. Check back in, they never seem to be any closer to that thing. I am, and I’ve moved on to the next one.

Trust me, I’m not possessed by some insatiable ambition. I haven’t known what I want since I was 4 years old and focused on everything I had on it. No, I just start. And I don’t waste time thinking about what it’d be nice to have–I’d rather just get it and see for myself. Before every show, the comedian Kevin Hart reminds his staff: “Everyone wants to be famous, nobody wants to do the work” and then they hit the stage and get to work.

I gloss over the big things because I know that’s not the issue. Otherwise the same attitude wouldn’t manifest itself in the tinniest and most banal parts of our lives: “Oh I heard that book was good and I’m thinking about buying it.” Do you know how many books I heard were good but don’t own? Like zero. It’s a book–just make the investment. You definitely won’t read it if you don’t own it. And what does it fucking matter in the end if you turn out to be wrong? It doesn’t.

People don’t get this because, partly, they don’t really want the things they say they want. They want to be the person who has certain things rather than actually do it. But even some of that comes from ignorance: these people don’t know how to do things, they don’t know how straight forward it is. Figure out what you want to do and then break it down from there. Take little steps. Then you are there. And the beauty of it all is that the risks are rarely very high. You decide not to go to China? Now you have a pile of money to spend on something else. Not so horrible is it?

NOTE: I’m going to be on Chase Jarvis Live today (June 27th) at 11am PST. Tune in and ask questions. Would love to hear from you all. 

Trust Me I’m Lying: Official Book Trailer

I announced my book last week and told you a little bit about it. This week I get to show you something even cooler: the book trailer.

The guys at Simplifilm put this together and I think it captures the book perfectly (it’s also the only book trailer I’ve ever liked besides Tim Ferriss’s. I can’t recommend them or their work highly enough.) If you’re curious, the narrator isn’t me, it’s the wonderful Robert Bruce, whose writing is a must-subscribe. I got very lucky that he was willing to do the voice over.

If you haven’t preordered the book yet, hopefully this trailer will convince you. The materials I’m giving away for preorder actually include case studies that show exactly how to do the trading up the chain process in the trailer.

Also, IMPORTANT NOTE: I will be on Chase Jarvis LIVE on Wednesday, June 27th, 11:00am Seattle time (2 pm NYC time or 19:00 London). Definitely tune in.

Here are some quick blurbs on the book:

“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.” —Tim Ferriss, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek

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

“The strategies Ryan created to exploit blogs drove sales of millions of my books and made me an internationally known name. The reason I am standing here while other celebrities were destroyed or became parodies of themselves is because of his insider knowledge.”—Tucker Max, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

Sloppy and Obnoxious

Listen to them with their chatter of far off places. Look at them with their luxury cars and expensive clothes. Always talking, talking, talking.

They’d like you to think they’ve got it all worked out, wouldn’t they? Just don’t look past the self-absorption, banality, and their deliberate little place at the center of attention.

Instead, think about what they are so often not: respectful or interesting. When Seneca writes that “slavery resides beneath marble and gold,” he leaves out the other attribute: stupidity. It makes you soft and sloppy and obnoxious. Don’t even get started whether they’re happy (actually do the math on the numbers these guys are throwing around)

We like to say with smug satisfaction “nobody lies on their deathbed and says, ‘I wish I’d worked more.’ Well, nobody really says “I’m SO glad I spent all that time skiing” either. Those things don’t matter either–they aren’t happiness or meaning. And in fact, they may be more dangerous because they feel like they do.

When we are young or inexperienced, we envy these people–or at least a part of us does. We unconsciously think we are supposed to be like them. The idea is to own a Rolex right? And be able to talk about what Abu-Dhabi is like, of course.

Or is it? What if the idea is to actually like yourself and the work you do enough that you don’t feel the subconscious desire to flitter around all the time. What if you don’t talk about yourself or (talk that much period) because you’re thinking about important things? What if the idea is to feel better in simple dress, to have no problem with a coach seat even if you could afford otherwise. The more I think about it, yeah, that’s the idea. That you may suffer less the less insufferable you are.

Announcing My First Book: “Trust Me I’m Lying” and the Preorder Campaign

Well, the time is finally here. I can announce my first book: Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator (website)

I’ve never spoken about what I do for a living on my site, but the book reveals all that. I am a media manipulator for billion dollar brands to #1 New York Times bestselling authors. For the first time, I expose all the secrets of my profession, analyze why it exists and ultimately, what it means for the world in which we live. It’s a book deeply rooted in history and research, along with my first-person experiences. I didn’t want this to be some toothless, condescending book of media criticism. I name names in it, and I show where the bodies are buried—because I put many of them there. Ultimately, it’s not just a book about marketing but about strategy, culture and media.

Its release will be incredibly controversial, as you can see from the early coverage. GalleyCat reported my advance was as high as $500,000. Gawker predicted it would “easily be both the best and the worst book of the year.” Edward Jay Epstein was kind enough to say it should be “required reading for every thinker in America.” Trust me, there will me more of this praise (and hatred) to come.

My offer to you:

After more than 3 years of research and a year of writing and editing, I can safely say this is the best work I have done thus far in my life. I hope to share that with you—and any success that might come along with it. Because you have been loyal readers of this blog for so long and helped me with many of ideas I’ve developed, I wanted to do more than just ask you to buy a copy. I want to make it more than worth your while. I also want to hit the New York Times Bestseller list (which requires preorders since they all count for the first weeks sales). Getting on the bestseller list is my dream and since I’ve never liked preordering books myself, I wanted to go way over the top to motivate you to make that happen.

If you preorder 1 copy of the book before July 19th, I’ll send you:

1 Supplementary ebook (the 9 Tactics of a Media Manipulator), which you’ll get a month before the rest of the public.

1 private/confidential case study explaining my million-plus impression media stunt involving Tucker Max.

If you preorder 3 copies (to give away to two friends), I’ll send you:

1 Supplementary ebook (the 9 Tactics of Manipulating Blogs), which you’ll get a before the rest of the public.

1 private/confidential case study explaining my million-plus impression media stunt involving Tucker Max.

1 private/confidential case study explaining how I dominated the news cycle for nearly a week with my plan to name a Planned Parenthood Clinic after Tucker.

1 private/confidential copy of the Marketing Reading List (required books and articles) that I pour over with each hire I train.

Against the advice of many, I’ve decided to do another offer, one that requires more pre-orders but I think offers quite a bit of value:

If you preorder 9 copies of the book (to give to friends/co-workers) before July 1st:

On top of all of the above, I will do a private 30 minute one-on-one call (Skype or Google Hangout) with you. In this call, we can talk about whatever you want, be it books or strategy or marketing. I’ve done a handful of these already with subscribers to my reading list and so far I’ve helped craft successful book proposals, developed full marketing campaigns, gone over business plans and chatted about philosophy. My usual rate for a call or mastermind like this is minimum $500-$1,000, often times much more. So there it is, more than $1000 copies for the price of less than ten books on Amazon.

Preorder 1 Copy, Get 2 ebook casestudies/ebooks

Preorder 3 copies, Get 4 casestudies/ebooks

Preorder 9 copies, Get 4 casestudies/ebooks + a private 30 minute call with me

To get these prizes, all you have to do is email ryholiday@gmail.com with the subject line PreOrder #1, #2 or #3 (depending on which one you choose) and a screenshot of your Amazon or B&N or other receipt. The case studies and reading list will all be sent out within a week. My assistant will email you to schedule our call together.

You can buy the book anywhere, including through the following links:

Amazon

iBooks

Barnes and Noble

Indiebound

800CEORead

BooksAMillion

Living Like a Boss

I know many people who call themselves authors, but they’ve never sold a book. I have, and now I know that it wasn’t that hard. The book took three months. Or maybe they have sold a book, and three years later they’re still writing it even though the topic isn’t a difficult one. Not that they’re Robert Caro struggling with an epic, they enjoy living the life of a writer more than writing, or you know, doing things. I know PhD students years deep into grad school and no closer to graduating. I know people talk about entrepreneurship but they aren’t one. They’re just regular guys. Same goes for “experts” “marketers” and “thinkers.” Mostly posers or dilettantes.

I don’t mean people who try to be cool or anything like that, but people who give themselves credit for accomplishments that haven’t happened yet. It’s not that they aren’t working on their book or start-up or whatever. They are. They just can’t close the deal. They aren’t in control of their own lives.

You know who doesn’t go around calling themselves “The Boss?” Bosses. Why? Because real authority is implicit, not explicit. The same goes for superlatives and occupation titles. You leave those for the people who follow you, who buy your work, who write about you, who introduce you. These meaningless words mean something to some people because it helps them definer their relationship to the world. That’s the wrong way to do it. You, the writer, don’t relate to the world as a writer—you relate to the world as you. The world relates to you and your writing. For [writer], plug in entrepreneur, expert, student, athlete or whatever. The leader is the leader because he leads.

Live a life of standards, not descriptors. Wake up each morning and live like a boss.

This isn’t just a power tactic, though it is a good one. It is a life tactic. It’s how you prevent yourself from becoming a clueless asshole (or a delusional never-been). From thinking that things that don’t matter, matter. It’s so easy on the internet to present an idealized version of yourself, and in the process, forget which is the real and which is the fake. It’s easier to cede control than have control. Don’t fake it until you make it. Shut up until you make it. And then when you make it, you’ll be so used to being that way that you still won’t feel all that inclined to talk about it.

The False Bravado of “Philosophy”

One of Ambrose Bierce’s best stories about the Civil War is “Parker Adderson, Philosopher.” In it, a Union spy is caught behind Confederate lines at night. He is taken to the Confederate general who questions him. In their interview, the soldier shows his wit and disdain for death (and fear), which intriques the general. The conversation is marked by one theme, the condemned soldier outsmarting the general’s compassionate but stern regard for the seriousness of the sentence he is obligated to hand down.

“Good God man! do you mean to go to your death with nothing but jokes upon your lips? Do you know that this is a serious matter?

“How can I know that? I have never been dead in all my life. I have heard that death is a serious matter, but never from any of those who have experienced it.”

The general quietly listens, considers the man’s points but still finds them terrifying.

“Death is horrible!”

“It was horrible to our savage ancestors because they had not enough intelligence to dissociate the idea of consciousness from the idea of the physical forms in which it is manifested–as even a lower order of intelligence, that of the monkey, for example, may be unable to imagine a house without inhabitants and seeing a ruined hut fancies a suffering occupent.”

Just then the stormy weather outside abates, and the general orders that the sentence be imposed that night, by firing squad, rather than waiting for the gallows to be built in the morning. The solider, unprepared for this turn of events, breaks down. “But General, I beg–I implore you, I am to hang!…Spies are hanged; I have rights under military law!” It’s no use. So he struggles, grabs an unguarded knife, and mortally wounds the general before being led away.

At the end the soldier meets his death whimpering before the firing squad, begging to be spared. The general, dying a few hours later, dies solemnly, saying only “I suppose this must be death.”

I like this story because of the twist. As you read it, you mark down the wise words of the soldier–finding them perfect reminders about the smallness of life and an example for how to think about death. The words may as well have come from Cato or Socrates. Parker Adderson truly is, as the title states, a philosopher.

Only like most “philosophers” he soon let’s us down when it comes to practice. He may not have been a coward in the face of grave threats–and that’s admirable and rare–but when those threats become realities his edifice crumbled. At the same time, the General, who was honest with the solider about not wanting to die and urged him to make things right before his sentence was imposed, was, when he himself faced with the same sentence, clearheaded and calm.

Behind laconic wit lies one of two things: compensatory horseshit or profound confidence and bravery. It is important to know which. Remember, all the preparation and philosophy and clever sayings in the world are no guarantee strength under duress. In fact, it may foreshadow the opposite. Why? Because they lead us to think it will not be so hard. That armed with logic or facts, we will not be afraid and regress. And this is true for things a lot less terrifying than death. (We feel proud and smart telling kids “it get’s better,” but how do you handle bullies in your adult life? Your heart races, you get flustered, you feel like quitting your job and running away.)

It’s important to remember that the Spartans, (the Lacedaemonians who the laconic style is named after) hated philosophers. They hated how easily they could say one thing and do another. To them, quips weren’t quips. They meant something. It was the expression of years of training, tradition and obligation. They were efficient, not condescending. Words were never a substitute for action. It was never about making a rhetorical point. For every Spartan whose rejoinder was passed down through history, there were a thousand more who simply performed, making even less of a show than the general in the story.

We must keep that in mind as we do our reading and make our way. That the real show is never the words–no matter how impressive or true or clever they are–and it’s no shame to be mocked and laughed at by those who are skilled at wordplay, so long as you best them when it comes time to face your own test.

More Writing from Me

I was going to keep this writing separate but the posts have turned out to be pretty good so I decided to linking to them here. I’m writing for Forbes now and you can subscribe to my posts via RSS here or you can just follow it on Twitter for links. Initially, writing on Forbes it was a bit of an experiment but it seems to have stuck and I have enjoyed doing it.

H.L Mencken & Jack London: How to Pitch Editors, Agents and Book Publishers

9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great

Why Wouldn’t Planned Parenthood Take $500,000? (this controversy was awesome and got picked up everywhere)

The Marketer’s Dirty Secret: Exploiting Perception vs Reality

What the Failed $1M Netflix Prize Says About Business Advice

It’s a different kind of writing for me but still good practice and I write there more often. The weightier material is all going to stay on this site and I’ll be posting on Forbes just the stuff that I couldn’t make work for this format. It’s also not a bad seque into my book, which is a mix of both. Stay tuned for that announcement next month.

Anyway, read them or don’t. Either way, stay tuned for regularly scheduled programming.

The Benefit of the Doubt

Some weirdo says something to you in the grocery store and you smile and nod your head, “Yup!” Just to avoid a scene right? You have a meeting with a sales rep and indulge the friendly but pointless chitchat even though you hate it. But a friend mispronounces a word and we leap to correct them. Your girlfriend tells a boring story and you’ve got to say something about it, you’ve got to get short with her. What kind of bullshit is this? We give the benefit of courtesy to everybody but the people who earned it.

Think of how much patience we have for total strangers and acquaintances. But what a short fuse we have for the actual people in our life. In the course of our everyday lives, our priorities are so very backwards. We do our best to impress people we’ll never see again and take for granted people we see all the time. We’re respectful in our business lives, casual and careless in our personal. We punish closeness with criticism, reward unfamiliarity with politeness.

On some days, deep down, I think we’d rather just be an asshole to everyone. But we can’t, so on those days we take it out all the harder on the people we can. When kids are misbehaving, it’s the one within reach that the parent slaps. Just because you can call someone out (or hold them accountable) doesn’t mean you should. The fact that you can certainly shouldn’t count against the person. As though being your friend or co-worker costs them your patience.

Not that I’m saying to flip the ratio and be less tolerant to people outside your circle than those inside it. Instead, see if you can give everyone the graciousness of meeting them fresh each time. Ask yourself: how would I treat this person if we weren’t so familiar? If it’s more generously, do that. Don’t use history against people, don’t slap just because you can. Sure, be friendly to everyone but bend over backwards—because they’ve earned it—for the people who put up with your shit on a daily basis.