A FLOP ‘TIK’S TO TOP
Dad’s book now No. 1
Social media took Lloyd Devereux Richards’ serialkiller novel, “Stone Maidens,” from the bottom of the barrel to top of the charts.
The Vermont author’s book — a flop when first published in 2012 — is now No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list, thanks to a video his daughter posted on TikTok that has garnered more than 40.3 million views, 9.4 million likes and a lot of book buyers.
“It’s surreal,” the 74-yearold author told The Post of his sudden success, beating out the likes of Colleen Hoover and Prince Harry. “I am not a social media person. I post pictures to Facebook and that’s it.”
Lloyd’s daughter Marguerite Richards, 40, a teacher, posted the video tribute to her dad’s overlooked hard work on Feb. 8, after learning that the “Stone Maidens” sequel, finished late last year, had limited prospects of finding a publisher.
“I am so impressed with my dad and I hoped a few people would buy the book if they saw the person behind it,” Marguerite told The Post.
Posted under Stonemaidens, the video captures Lloyd in his cluttered Montpelier, Vt., attic office, pecking at his vintage computer, unaware of his daughter’s presence. An on-screen caption reads: “My dad spent 14 years on a book . . . He worked full time and his kids came first . . . He’s so happy even though sales aren’t great. I’d love for him to get some sales. He doesn’t even know what TikTok is.”
The 17-second video, tracked to “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy),” written by John Lennon, also showed the book’s cover.
“I posted it and it had 200 views before I went to bed,” Marguerite recalled. “The first comment was that the book sounds great.”
In the 1990s, Lloyd, an avid reader of crime books, set out to write his own, while working as a lawyer for National Life Group, an insurance company.
“It was difficult but I was determined,” Lloyd said, explaining that “Stone Maidens” was rejected by 85 agents before one took to it and got him a modest $15,000 advance from publisher Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon.
Marguerite said, “I did not have the expectation of 40 million people falling in love with my dad and calling him their TikTok Dad. I just figured I’d get him a few thousand shares. But then the book becomes Number 1 on Amazon? That’s magic.”