Father’s unknown novel soars to bestseller after daughter shares about it in a viral TikTok

The book market has plenty of options for people who love murder mysteries. Joining the genre is the book "Stone Maidens," penned by Lloyd Devereux Richards. This book has garnered a lot of attention from a lot of readers and has sensationally soared to the top of Amazon's bestsellers list. The success story behind this title is somewhat heartwarming as it all started when Richards' daughter decided to promote the book on TikTok with the help of a brief clip, according to a report from About Amazon.

The success of "Stone Maidens" has not been an easy journey by any means. For over a decade, Lloyd' first and only published novel "Stone Maidens" struggled to make sales. But it took the efforts of Richards' daughter to propel it to the top of Amazon's bestsellers list. 

It has been reported that Richards took 14 years to write the mystery thriller, which was published in 2012. But since its release, there hasn't been much success as the novel sold only a few dozen copies in the past decade. It was his daughter Marguerite Richards who had uploaded a TikTok video with a simple caption, "It’s a beautifully written thriller on Amazon" to promote her father's book describing how he wrote it while working full time and raising his children, per CBC.

Since the release of the promotional clip, word spread like wildfire with the TikTok going viral, gathering almost 45 million views on the platform as of today. TikTok users have expressed their willingness to buy the novel with a few surprisingly revealing that they have ordered it online.

Talking about the synopsis of the book, the title is based on an FBI agent who works on a case about a serial killer who leaves an eerie calling card with each victim. The book currently has seen a lot of success on Amazon.com and was the 48th best-selling book of 2023.

Richards' daughter Marguerite talked about the success of the novel, "We were just crying because this has been 25 years in the making. It's so powerful. I just can't believe what happened. It's incredible."

"This is such an honor that I've gotten to do this for him," she added. "I believed in him, and so it's incredible to see tens of thousands of people believing in him, too, and loving his work and begging for the sequel." as reported by Fox News.

After the success, both father and daughter have been spotted giving interviews to various media outlets and have shared their experience about the roller coaster ride they've been on since the video went viral on TikTok.

They say good things come to those who wait and for Richards, it was over a decade-long wait to see his book receive praise and appreciation. Richards was overjoyed with his daughter's efforts as he said, "I'm so excited. It's just incredible. I owe this all to my daughter, really."