I am an avid listener of The Dream podcast and love the way Jane Marie lifted the lid on the dirty world of MLMs to show how they ensnare working class women with get-rich-eventually promises. Everyone who's had a friend from high school randomly message them on Facebook about their "small business" is familiar with the gross selling tactics MLMs teach their followers. Once you join an MLM you are expected to constantly sell products to your closest social circles and, if you want to make real money, ensnare your nearest and dearest in the same system. The real money comes with signing up more sellers, not in moving the (often substandard) products.

Selling the Dream brings this sordid process vividly to life. Highly recommend to anyone who loves the podcast or is interested in MLMs.

Selling the Dream by Jane Marie is a sharp, eye-opening look at the allure and pitfalls of modern consumer culture. With wit and candor, Marie unpacks the psychology behind the dreams we’re sold—from luxury lifestyles to self-help promises—and the often-overlooked costs of chasing them.

This is a companion to the wonderful podcast The Dream, and this one mostly centers around the subject of the first season, although 2 and 3 pop up here and there since they are MLM adjacent. (Wellness and Coaching companies often have MLM structures, and while she didn't go into detail, they both get brief mentions). It mostly has the history of MLMs as a business model, starting with Amway and other major players, and how lobbying and political interests have basically let these businesses go nuts. If you've listened to the podcast or know things about MLMs, this isn't going to be revelatory. But I enjoy Jane Marie's writing style and so it was an enjoyable way to spend some time.

A really great deep dive into the history of multi-level marketing companies. These companies (that often allegedly in my opinion operate as illegal pyramid schemes) are everywhere you look on the internet, but they started somewhere much more humble. While it doesn’t deep dive into the dangers of these companies and the scammy tactics used by their reps today, it was a thorough history of the business model that I happily binged. Very quick, very interesting read!

Jane Marie tells the story of MLMs in an engaging and factual way. She has clearly done her research, and her own asides add to the general feeling of disbelief that so many unfortunate people fall for scams that have been going on for years. I appreciated how her book held both sides of the truth of organizations like MLMs-- people can indeed find community and worth, while also being financially devastated. I would highly recommend this book to anyone involved in direct sales marketing or has friends or family involved.

Selling the Dream by Jane Marie is a great account of the history of multi-level marketing (MLM) and how it took the American working class by storm, much to its detriment. You'll recognize many of the companies, everything from Amway, LuLaRoe, Mary Kay and Tupperware. Jane Marie discusses much of what's in the book in her popular podcast, The Dream, but if you're not familiar with her podcast, this is good starting point on the topic.

Does the concept of multilevel marketing companies or MLMs fascinate you? This is the book for you!

I’m always shocked by the amount of people who shell out money to work for companies like LuLaRoe or any of the other buy-these-goods-from-me style companies. I like to think I would never fall for a scheme like this, but at the end of the day I totally get the appeal and why they still in this day and age manage to attract people to work for them.

Jane Marie does a fantastic job of analyzing different MLMs, sharing everything from their origins to their downfalls to their weird ability to keep living on. I learned a lot about companies I didn’t know too much about previously and the dirty secrets of those I’m more familiar with.

🎧: Highly recommend this book over audio!

I picked this book up after loving Jane Marie's podcast The Dream. The audiobook read like a podcast episode. While the book was very similar to the podcast, I did enjoy the history behind MLMs and appreciated the author's dry humor.

I honestly DNFd this one. Was it bad?? Not at all! But because I listened to The Dream podcast, I was really underwhelmed with the book. It goes just bit more into detail, but I think if you listened to the podcast there's not too much that I would consider new information. I got about halfway through the book and there may have been a few names mentioned in the book that were not mentioned on the podcast and there was also a bit more backstory for some key historical figures. If you're not into podcasts and haven't listened but still want a well-researched account on the history of MLMs and pyramid schemes I definitely recommend reading!

This book should be sold in tandem with Hey Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson. If you've listened to the latest seasons of The Dream, this book won't be anything new to you but it's still fascinating, like a car crash you can't look away from.

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.