Watch the video: “Viral on TikTok: daughter makes dad’s thriller a bestseller”
A TikTok video helps an 11-year-old thriller find unexpected fame.
The daughter of US lawyer Lloyd Devereux Richards publishes a video on TikTok, bringing the book “Stone Maiden” to the Amazon book charts.
It took the father of three from the US state of Vermont 14 years to write and publish a book. But the hoped-for success with the novel never materializes.
Eleven years later, thanks to Tiktok, the time has come.
Richard’s daughter posts a first video on the “stonemaidens” account. Richards sits at his desk and sings the song “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In the text that appears, the daughter writes:
“My father wrote a book for 14 years. He worked full-time during this phase and we children always came first for him. Nonetheless, he took the time to read the book. Writing his own book makes him so happy, even if the novel doesn’t sell well. I would be so happy for him if he could still sell a few copies.”
More than 43 million views and over 38,000 comments: the video went viral and got a number of TikTok users to buy the book.
“Stone Maiden” quickly took first place on the Amazon serial killer thriller list in the USA.
Richards is overwhelmed by the news of his surprising fame. When reading the video comments, he has to cry with emotion.
His daughter cries with him and thanked the fans for the orders and positive feedback.
“Because of them, you’re number 1 now,” she happily tells her father.