Man's book becomes bestseller 10 yrs after release thanks to his daughter promoting it on social media

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 16, 2023. It has since been updated.

Whether we believe it or not, the power of the internet is real. It can vastly improve every aspect of our lives. It is also a terrific promotion tool if you know your way around it. Millions of businesses, writers and brands rely on the internet since it has the biggest audience. Social media made Lloyd Devereux Richards' thriller novel, "Stone Maidens," went from flop to top. However, the road to notoriety looked impossible for the 74-year-old father of three in Vermont until his daughter mapped out a plan to get his book the attention it deserved. "Stone Maidens" was published in November 2012 by Thomas & Mercer, about 14 years after he wrote the book, it gained the needed attention, according to PEOPLE.

The book was inspired by a series of crimes that had taken place in the mid-1970s while Lloyd attended law school at Indiana University. His book did not get recognition initially, but his 40-year-old daughter was not ready to give up. Marguerite Richards decided to start a TikTok account on her father's behalf to promote the book. "It was such a great book, and I knew how important it was to him," said Marguerite, adding, "I thought maybe it's just because nobody knows about the book." Llyod was unsure of the idea, but Marguerite made it happen. The first video she made about her father reached over 43 million views on TikTok.

"He's so happy even though sales aren't great," she wrote in the clip. "I'd love for him to get some sales." The book has secured its place as the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon. Marguerite shared her father's reaction in a Tiktok video, which has been liked more than 1.4 million times. He is speechless in the clips as he realizes the fame the book has garnered. "Oh my gosh," he says in the clip, to which his daughter replies, "I love you, Dad!". Lloyd tells his daughter, "Thank you," for all the effort she has put in for him. As for the author, the last several days have been a whirlwind of emotions. "These last couple of days, I can't understand it," he says in another TikTok video while the pair drink chocolate milkshakes. "I feel blessed, you know?"

Moreover, Llyod says he is not done with writing yet. He has been working on a sequel for nearly five years. Growing up, Marguerite has been noticing her father sitting in his office for long hours, so she wanted to make a video that would honor his hard work over all these years, reports The Washington Post. “Stone Maidens” is now the top-selling novel on Amazon, surpassing Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends with Us” and “It Starts with Us” and Prince Harry’s “Spare,” Lloyd said Amazon hasn’t sent him sales figures, but he expects them by March. Till 2010, no editor agreed to publish his book, but Llyod still held hope. “It’s very dismaying,” Lloyd said. “I had to have thick skin. I had to just say: ‘You know? I’m going to figure this out.’”

“I owe all of what’s happening now to my daughter,” Lloyd said. “If I had said, ‘I’m tired, I want to go to bed, maybe some other time,’ we wouldn’t be talking. I’m very grateful, but that’s the only thing that’s changed in the last 11 years is this couple of videos she put on TikTok.” In one of the recent videos, he even offered a helpful writing tip for first-timers. “Write, you rewrite and write it again,” he said. “And never give up.”