+
Joy

10 years after going unnoticed, daughter's TikTok turns dad's novel into number one best-seller

Lloyd Devereux Richards' crime thriller "Stone Maidens" shot to the No. 1 spot on Amazon.

stone maidens, booktok
@stonemaidens/TikTok

"Stone Maidens" is now flying off the shelves.

Never underestimate the power of the internet…or a daughter’s love.

Just ask Lloyd Devereux Richards, who’s now a bestselling author thanks to his daughter Marguerite Richards' TikTok going viral. Previously, he didn’t even know what TikTok was.

Lloyd began writing his serial killer thrillerStone Maidens” back in 1998, based on real crimes that happened during his college years in the mid-70s. He would spend a little over a decade writing the book in the few precious hours he could carve out between his law career and being a dad to three children.

The book was finally published in 2012 after years of rejections from literary agents and editors. Unfortunately, this milestone was not met with many sales.

After seeing all her father’s hard work not pay off, Marguerite didn’t want his story to end on such an anticlimactic note.


“It was such a great book, and I knew how important it was to him,” she told The Washington Post. “He never was like, ‘Ah, nobody cares.’ He just always stayed positive. I thought maybe it’s just because nobody knows about the book.”

So Marguerite made a TikTok account dedicated to promoting his book. The first video showed footage of Lloyd at his desk, unaware that he’s being filmed. In the clip, Marguerite wrote how her dad dedicated so much time to writing it even though “being a dad came first,” and how much she’d “love for him to get some sales."

@stonemaidens It’s a beautifully written thriller on Amazon 🥹❤️ #stonemaidens#booktok#authorsoftiktok#thrillerbooks#books♬ original sound - e

The Post reported that the video reached a million views overnight. Even better, ”Stone Maidens” had suddenly become one of the top-selling books in its category on Amazon. As of now, hard copies are sold out.

Marguerite posted a follow-up video showing Lloyd finding out the good news, and it’s 100% heartwarming. Tears instantly stream down his face. He is left speechless over the wave of praise.

@stonemaidens you all are amazing! Life can be hard and then it can be wonderful suddenly (still crying) #stonemaidens♬ original sound - lloyd

“I’m ready for a nap!” he quips while throwing on his glasses. An app he had no idea existed completely changed his life in the span of 24 hours. Life is extraordinary in that way.

Subsequent videos show the pair celebrating the unexpected win, which has left Lloyd feeling “overwhelmed” and “blessed.”

Truly, even with all its inherent flaws, the internet can be an amazing tool for connection. As one person commented, “The world has so many hidden gems. Social media allows us to find them.”

One person noted how TikTok specifically could be a really positive platform, writing that “moments like this are why I stay on the app. The love and generosity from people is astounding. There is definitely more good than evil.”

As for Lloyd’s ever-growing fanbase—he’s been working on a sequel for the past four-and-a-half years. Stay tuned. Something tells me publishing won’t be nearly as difficult this time around.

And for those who might be finding themselves up against a similar challenge with their own creative endeavors, Lloyd does have a tip. Unsurprisingly, it has to do with resilience.

“Write, rewrite and write it again. And never give up.”

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

Keep ReadingShow less
@katherout/TikTok

Just another unsolved mystery

Who doesn’t like a good mystery?

A video creator known as @katherout certainly does. At the gym Kath frequents, there’s a whiteboard with a revolving prompt with simple questions like “What are you listening to?” or “What city were you born in?” Gym goers then write their responses anonymously on the board.

Kath recently became enthralled—and tickled—by a person who somehow manage to write the word “monke” (as in the word describing a group of monkeys, apparently) on every single one of their answers.

Keep ReadingShow less
@allbelongco/TikTok

How bizarre, how bizarre.

It should go without saying that it’s not cool to steal from your Airbnb. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen.

However, when one Airbnb host recently discovered a guest had—for some strange reason—stolen one of her paintings, then replaced it with a completely different painting, she decided to make the best out of a very uncool situation by sharing the story on TikTok.

As a result, viewers got to witness an continuously unraveling, truly bizarre modern-day art heist.

Okay, let’s get into it.

Keep ReadingShow less

11-year-old girl is the youngest opera singer in the world.

The majority of 11-year-olds are perfectly content balancing the pre-teen life with Barbie dolls and tinted lipgloss. But one pre-teen is busy breaking records. Victory Brinker is an 11-year-old opera prodigy who was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's youngest opera singer in 2019 when she was almost 8 years old.

If you like opera—or even if you don't—hearing her vocal range of three octaves and voice control is impressive. When it comes to singing, control of your breath, pitch and tone can be difficult, especially when you're without years of classical training. Victory's skill is so impressive that when she appeared on America's Got Talent last year, she was given the "golden buzzer," which sends you straight to the finalist round in Hollywood.

Keep ReadingShow less

Brianna Greenfield makes nachos for her husband.

A viral video showing a woman preparing nachos for her "picky" spouse after he refused to eat the salmon dinner she cooked has sparked a contentious debate on TikTok. The video was shared on April 26 by Brianna Greenfield (@themamabrianna on TikTok) and has since earned over 2.5 million views.

Brianna is a mother of two who lives in Iowa.

The video starts with Brianna grating a massive hunk of cheese with a caption that reads: “My husband didn’t eat the dinner that I made…So let’s make him some nachos.”

“If I don’t feed him, he literally won’t eat,” she wrote. “This used to irritate me. Now I just blame his mother for never making him try salmon,” Greenfield wrote. The video features Meghan Trainor’s single “Mother” playing in the background.

Keep ReadingShow less
@miztermiller/TikTok

Now THAT'S a deal.

Let's be real—buying secondhand allows us to save a few bucks, which is great. But the real thrill is the possibility of snagging that ultra-rare, one-of-a-kind item that’s worth a bajillion times more than we originally paid for it. Yes, that kind of shopping is a lottery unto itself. But man, what a jackpot, should you win.

And of course, it’s not a totally far-fetched fantasy. Costly things get thrown out or donated all the time, ready to be procured at the nearby thrift store, garage sale…

…or, in this case, Facebook Marketplace.

Keep ReadingShow less