Who among us hasn't been contacted out of the blue by an old high school classmate or sorority sister selling protein supplements or essential oils or lord knows what else? Selling the Dream speaks to that experience, offering an overview of the internet's favorite scam, multilevel marketing companies (MLMs).

The book offers a general overview of MLM structures, the history of significant MLMs, and the development of their sales and recruitment tactics. I would say that the information is pretty general, in that it touches on multiple well-known MLMs (Amway, Tupperware, LulaRoe, among many, many others) and other similar culty groups (NXIVM surprised me. I'd forgotten they started out selling personal development seminars). At the same time, the timeline of the historical development of MLMs is extremely detailed, to the point that I got bogged down about halfway through the book. I had trouble following the book's organization, which sometimes loosely organized a chapter around a theme or common element of MLMs and other chapters devoted to early MLMs. I didn't realize that this book was based on a podcast, which might explain the organization structure (toggling between hook and story). I haven't listened, so I can't say how much overlap the book has.

A decent overview, but I've found documentaries about specific MLMs to be more interesting.

Selling the Dream was so interesting! I loved the podcast so I knew I'd love the book. The writing is easy to read but kept me turning the pages. I appreciate the author bringing more awareness to how messed up MLMs are.

Multi-level marketing is such an interesting subject that infiltrates American life in such shocking and undeniable ways.

I've long evangelized The Dream podcast, and the book handles the topic in a similar way, just in more detail. Would definitely recommend.

Pretty much everyone can say they have been in or knows someone who is/was in at least one network marketing/direct sales/MLM company.

Selling the Dream is a good introduction to the sales industry commonly known as Multi-Level Marketing and goes back almost 100 years in the history of the business in the United States.

I recommend this to anyone who is newly interested in learning about the industry or those who are newly deconstructing from being involved in the industry.

If you have already been researching and consuming anti-MLM for some time, you will already be familiar with the topics and companies discussed in this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for providing me the opportunity to read and review.

Ths social sciences book of my dreams! I ended up listening to the audiobook while I worked, and regularly turned to my coworker to repeat something I thought was wild. I thought this was well-organized and appreciated getting a variety of scams, both in subject and scale.

Jane Marie is the perfect sarcastic investigator for uncovering the layers of lies built into Multi-Level Marketing schemes. Not only is this book informative, but it includes subtle calls to action for consumers hoping to make the business world a little more ethical.

I loved the Podcast the Dream so I was very excited to read this. I thought it was really interesting and I loved that this was able to dig deeper into topics that were covered on the podcast.

What is a MLM. It is a Multilevel Marketing Company. This is a business model that was developed in the early 2oth century. These companies some started a long time ago and other just recent but many that are household names especially with many having retail sales reportedly in the billions. The author describes that these are companies that guarantee financial success and unfortunately for most do not deliver and when individuals fail the companies blame the people and say they are not trying hard enough. It is sad when these companies really offer the American dream where they are offering a job where you can be your own boss, set your own hours which allow you to spend more time with your family and let you decide the amount of money you want to make. These really gained traction again with the covid virus and it was interesting to see those in various religious groups and the benefits marketed to them. These really are nothing more than a pyramid scheme where very few make money. With 3/4 of new people being recruited by someone they know the majority of us have been touched by one of these. This is a very informative read.

This is a well-written if occasionally long-winded exploration of the success of multilevel marketing schemes in America, and how they weaponize the American dream to take advantage of people every day. By using wealthy connections, deceptive information about earnings potential, and emotional manipulation, MLMs are able to take advantage of and steal money from thousands of Americans every year, and there seems to be nothing in their way. Jane Marie explains the history of MLMs, how they got so much power, and what we can do to stop them. Even for those who don't enjoy nonfiction (or getting unsolicited Hey, Hun! messages), this is a well-researched and interesting read.

If you've heard the first season of The Dream, I'm not sure you're going to get that much new content here, but it's delightful to dive back into the MLM season of that show in a way where Jane Marie's really expanded the points that series made and asks further questions about why we let ourselves get entangled with MLMs. I love that I can hear this book in her voice, even without the audiobook version.

I really enjoyed the podcast, and was very much looking forward to the book. It was an interesting history of several MLM companies, contrasted with stories of those who were taken in by the MLM. I, however, just wanted a little bit *more*--I'm a sucker for corporate hubris downfall stories, and this book just didn't quite give me that satisfaction. However I did purchase it for our library, as I can see how it can provide a very important perspective.

I've been a big fan of Jane Marie and "The Dream" podcast series for years now. This book is a distillation of her research into MLMs, and Marie does a expert job of making it very readable. It's a quick read and very clearly in the author's voice. Highly recommend!

ARC from publisher via NetGalley but the opinions are my own.

*3.5
Overall, Selling the Dream is a great introduction to the history of MLMs but not a lot of new information was reveled. If you're looking for a quick read or audiobook to put on in the background, this one works perfectly.

Really interesting look at the history and background of MLMs. I loved the writing and definitely look forward to more by this author.

I had the privilege of reading an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

"Selling the Dream" delves into the world of MLMs. As a victim of one of these so-called "dream companies," I yearned for a book that would aid in my healing after many years of brainwashing. I enjoyed the detailed exploration of some of the business model's frontrunners and appreciated getting the 'real tea' from this perspective. The book's inclusion of numerous statistics about the MLM market was enlightening, and surprisingly, the author made even these facts engaging and enjoyable to learn. The only reason I didn't award the book 5 stars (despite it being 5-star material) is personal - I longed to hear about my old MLM from this viewpoint, and its absence left me feeling somewhat deflated. However, please take this rating with a grain of salt! Jane Marie couldn't possibly include every MLM company, or she'd still be writing the book!

This book provides a captivating, easy-to-read, in-depth exploration of a world that has shattered many people's dreams while promoting a "Dream the Dream" message. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬. 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 12, 2024.

It really pains me to give this a negative review/rating, as I have been a big fan of Jane Marie's podcast, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢, and was so excited to read this book. I am hoping that some of the issues with the writing will be corrected in the final published copy, as that was by far my biggest issue while reading this.

As I stated, I have been a listener of Jane Marie's podcast, and have been a fan of her anti-mlm content for a while. I would describe 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 as a companion piece to season one of 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 podcast, as they honestly really cover a lot of the same topics. To be frank, I found the podcast much more engaging than this book, especially with the author's undercover experience with the mlm, LimeLife, that really doesn't get mentioned at all in the latter. This book was a bit info-dumpy for me, juxtaposed with a lot of colloquialisms that often didn't really jive with the points the author was trying to make. I found the writing to be very choppy and unrefined, which was surprising and frustrating to me while reading. I think if you have been around the anti-mlm space for any amount of time, there really is not much new information to be found here. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I would suggest trying out Jane Marie's podcast first.

Jane's podcast The Dream finally opened my eyes to the harm that MLMs do to the average American, and got me to say goodbye to MLM pitches forever. I was so excited to read her book and it did not disappoint. I will admit that the first half of the book felt like a recap of her podcast, but I am more than thrilled that this information is getting out there! Will absolutely be recommending this book, not just because of the content, but because of the witty writing style.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

“The MLM world is a bizarre land where incentives can range from the opportunity to buy your own ticket to a conference to earning a new rank based solely on products you’ve purchased that now sit in your garage.”


Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans.
By Jane Marie

Release Date: March 12, 2024

QUICK SUMMARY 🖊️
Selling The Dream gives you in depth research and reporting of the MLMs that built the pyramids today.

FINAL THOUGHTS 💭
This was fun and a great book to trigger of MLM friends. Although if you’re familiar with the podcast some of this information is already in there just not as in depth as the book went.

I really enjoyed learning the history of MLMs, you don’t really think of it but my generation has been surrounded by them our entire lives, even if you or your family have never bought into them you know the names.

I think this is a good starting point for people who want to learn more about MLMs and why they’re not good. This book lays the ground work.

This was a great book and companion to Jane Marie's podcast that dives into the history of MLMs. I am excited to see what she comes out with next. The reporting and the researching for this book was very well done and interesting to learn about.

I was excited to read this book since I LOVED Jane's work on The Dream podcast.

There is a lot of great information in here regarding MLMs including their history in the United States, why they suck people in, and why they still exist. Corruption, scam artists, and grifters are everywhere.

I think this book could have included more of the social aspects and more real life examples of modern MLM culture. There was quite a bit on Tupperware and Amway but we see businesses like Monat, Beachbody, Rodan and Fields, etc. more in our everyday life now.

All in all, this was a great book to learn more about the history of MLMs and why they are not going anywhere anytime soon - unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!