Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans
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Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Jane Marie (Author, Narrator), Simon & Schuster Audio (Publisher)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 59 ratings
Editors' pick Best Nonfiction
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A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read for March 2024 * A Bustle Best New Book of Spring 2024

Peabody and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jane Marie expands on her popular podcast The Dream to expose the scourge of multilevel marketing schemes and how they have profited off the evisceration of the American working class.

We’ve all heard of Amway, Mary Kay, Tupperware, and LuLaRoe, but few know the nefarious way they and countless other multilevel marketing (MLM) companies prey on desperate Americans struggling to make ends meet.

When factories close, stalwart industries shutter, and blue-collar opportunities evaporate, MLMs are there, ready to pounce on the crumbling American Dream. MLMs thrive in rural areas and on military bases, targeting women with promises of being their own boss and millions of dollars in easy income—even at the risk of their entire life savings. But the vast majority—99.7%—of those who join an MLM make no money or lose money, and wind up stuck with inventory they can’t sell to recoup their losses.

Featuring in-depth reporting and intimate research, Selling the Dream reveals how these companies—often owned by political and corporate elites, such as the Devos and the Van Andels families—have made a windfall in profit off of the desperation of the American working class.

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  1. Listening Length
    6 hours and 14 minutes
  2. Author
    Jane Marie
  3. Narrator
    Jane Marie
  4. Audible release date
    March 12, 2024
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Audio
  7. ASIN
    B0CDJ3NXCZ
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 14 minutes
Author Jane Marie
Narrator Jane Marie
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date March 12, 2024
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0CDJ3NXCZ
Best Sellers Rank #8,569 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#10 in Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions True Crime
#23 in Hoaxes & Deceptions
#27 in Feminist Theory (Books)

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
59 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Stephanie LMS
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reporting--a must read!
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024
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Thank you to Jane Marie -- her podcast The Dream helped me to make sense of losing my best friend of 30+ years to an MLM. Her book goes further into depth, a fascinating and eye opening read. If you or someone you care about has ever been in an MLM, please read and also listen to The Dream (season 1). Not only is it extremely compelling and informative, it also helped me so much to understand and let go.
One person found this helpful
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Jackieb
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Review of MLM
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024
There is not much new in this book. Knowing people that have been taken in by these schemes, I was well aware of how they operate to rope people in, how delusional the victims are, and how they are part of our late stage capitalism with all of its political corruption and greed.

Unfortunately, I think the victims I know would still be victims even if they could be persuaded to read this book. It's a cultural and educational problem. General characteristics of victims: innumeracy, lack of critical thinking skills, gullibility, loneliness, susceptibility to cultish behavior, lack of ethics.

The book covers this territory very well. It's very depressing.
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Howard G.
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent exposure to the pyramid phenomenon
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024
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Following her excellent “The Dream” podcast series, Jane Marie’s book “Selling the Dream” is fun and informative and, at times, horrifying (in a good way). Exposing the MLM industry through deep research and interviews, she shares amazing stories of folks who were taken for a ride (sometimes multiple times) by their families and supposed friends, and sets these experiences against the historical context of pyramid schemes in the American economy going back to the turn of the last century. Really excellent read which keeps you glued to the pages, thinking “what next?”. Highly recommended.
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Robert L. FitzPatrick
3.0 out of 5 stars The First Book on the Overall MLM Phenomenon from a Mainstream Publisher
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024
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The publishing of "Selling the Dream" by Simon & Schuster is a milestone. It is the first book from a mainstream publishing company in the US that critically addresses the overall multi-level marketing (MLM) phenomenon. The author deserves great credit for writing and getting this book into the publishing market.

I have been exposing MLM for more than two decades, served as expert in 37 court cases against them, and written two books, "False Profits" and "Ponzinomics", on the subject. For the last 24 years, I have maintained a non-commercial consumer educational website on MLM, PyramidSchemeAlert.org that has reached millions of people. I’ve been interviewed by all major media.

"Selling the Dream" is a publishing milestone but not necessarily new information. It is mostly a reliable compilation of years of other people’s work on MLM that hopefully will now get wider circulation. Its publishing serves to confirm the burgeoning sentiment that “multi-level marketing” is a stain on the country – now exported to all other countries – that needs an urgent clean-up. It signifies that the dark truth about MLM is finally reaching the mainstream.

Regarding the book, I was extensively interviewed and consulted and was part of the author’s podcast, “The Dream, Season One,” which the book is mostly based on. I provided the podcast producers with years of my research on MLM, its history and politics that are in my book "Ponzinomics", which was published soon after “The Dream” podcast. I am referenced in a couple of footnotes in the book.

The book’s 2024 release reveals how the publishing industry has been one of the barriers to serious examination of MLM while it exploded from 1980 forward. It is now in over 100 countries, with one in 20 households on the planet directly involved at any given time. It has affected the lives, views about work, and caused losses to tens of millions of US families. Donald Trump was the most famous MLM spokesman for 10 years and he brought MLM’s first family, Betsy DeVos, into his Cabinet. Yet, only in 2024 does the first book on the overall MLM “industry” get published by a mainstream publisher. All previous attempts – I was part of the efforts – were rejected or ignored.

"Selling the Dream" avoids some of the reasons publishers likely were afraid or unwilling to recognize this huge Main Street phenomenon. This book does not directly charge MLMs with being pyramid schemes or cults, the main indictments of the “anti-MLM” movement for 40 years. It also does not tie multi-level marketing to any of the extreme political currents in America, for which there are many connections that other authors have explored.

Additionally, while the book repeats the now widely-known origins and early history of MLM, it does not acknowledge the courageous work of consumer groups, whistle-blowers, private attorneys, a few academics, and journalists over four decades and the savage legal and character attacks they endured from MLM operatives and law firms. During the nearly 40 years of publisher silence, independent consumer information – websites, blogs, newsletters, chats and self-published books – exposed the deceptions and extraordinary loss and harm caused by MLM. MLM companies waged a Scientology-like campaign against critics and whistle-blowers with online gaslighting, cease and desist threats, character smears, and SLAPP suits, charging defamation, contract interference or copyright violations. The object was to discredit and bankrupt. Many voices were silenced.

I am hopeful the publishing of this book will spark a wider public conversation about the impact MLM recruiting is having on Main Street households, relationships, politics, values and economics.
7 people found this helpful
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Jennie Caverley
5.0 out of 5 stars Important read.
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2024
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I was in a MLM back in the late 90s and it almost buried my family in debt. MLMs are total scam. The downline always supports the top tier of the pyramid, while all "bottom feeders" (downline) usually lose going into deep debt. This book is totally true, accurate, and important reality read for the public warning: stay away from MLMs.
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Suzi
4.0 out of 5 stars Incisive MLM Exposé
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2024
Award-winning journalist Jane Marie of the investigative podcast The Dream delves deep into the world of multilevel marketing, or MLMs. Selling the Dream is incredibly well researched, presenting an exhaustive history of the origins of MLMs, all the way back before Earl Tupper and Brownie Wise brought their durable and innovative plastic containers and their party selling scheme to the masses. The narrative skillfully depicts how a long history of hucksters and snake oil salesmen gave rise to the MLMs of today: Mary Kay ladies, Beachbody coaches, Herbalife nutrition shops, and stay-at-home moms shilling garish LuLaRoe leggings.

I’ve been morbidly fascinated by MLMs for the better part of a decade, wondering how and why people (overwhelmingly women) buy into the false promises of wealth and success. Jane Marie presents a meticulously investigated backstory of MLMs, complete with the economic and social factors that created an environment for these insidious companies to flourish. Although I’ve read a lot about MLMs, this was the first time I’ve seen such a well-documented analysis of how politics and government agencies figure into the mix, including how the FTC became powerless to regulate the industry and how MLM companies skirt the letter of previous rulings. Although the amount of information is comprehensive, the author keeps the reader engaged by serving it all up with a witty side of snark.

If you enjoyed The Dream podcast, the book “Hey Hun” by Emily Lynn Paulson, or documentaries like “LuLaRich” or “Betting on Zero”, you’ll likely enjoy this deep exploration of MLM history and culture.
10 people found this helpful
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J. Levy
5.0 out of 5 stars Both informative and funny
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2024
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Highly recommend. Gives you a sense of so many things - why people are persuaded to do this and how hard it is for the FTC to do much of anything about it. Fun read that is also smart and interesting n
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Top reviews from other countries

J W.
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, lively.
Reviewed in Canada on March 30, 2024
Verified Purchase
Lively, well-written and absorbing. The history of MLMs is very interesting. I'm old enough to remember a lot of it (Fuller Brush men and Tupperware parties in particular), but it was fun to be reminded. It's a great reminder to be on guard if "the opportunity of a lifetime" comes along: it's usually someone else's lifetime that will be enhanced.
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Makonz
5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly interesting
Reviewed in Australia on April 13, 2024
Verified Purchase
I resisted the pressure to join Amway and its derivatives several times during the 90s, nobody who sold MLMs has ever come back to tell me about the millions they've made either. I've listened to the whole of The Dream podcast a couple of times since it explained what I always found suspect about MLMs, and Jane Marie's research is excellent. The book is similar to the podcast but has some different and sometimes extra details, and is more easy to search. Highly recommended.
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