Inspiring Author Success Stories — from Writers Who Nearly Gave Up
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If you've ever put your heart and soul into something, only for it not to get the recognition or attention that you thought it deserved or that you were hoping for, you know how discouraging that can feel. That was the case with two authors who published their debut novels to little acclaim and low sales — only for them to then have a sudden turn of fate and become number-one bestsellers.
How did this happen, and what can we learn from these author success stories? I'm going to give you the full rundown on these inspiring stories, so if you're feeling down about whatever creative project you're working on, hopefully this gives you a little boost of encouragement and motivation.
This Author Success Story Proves It’s Never Too Late to Increase Your Sales
The first story I want to talk about today is Lloyd Devereaux Richards. He is a thriller author and had published his novel, Stone Maidens, but never really got many sales. Then, a decade later, his daughter made a TikTok talking about his work on the book and how it never really got a lot of attention, hoping that maybe she would get a few more sales for him.
Well, the TikTok got more than 56 million views, and people flooded Lloyd with support and actually went and purchased Stone Maidens. Today, the book has more than 7,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4.4 average star rating and more than 8,000 reviews on Goodreads with a 3.8 star average rating — pretty good! The book skyrocketed to become a number-one Amazon bestseller.
Since this amazing turn of events, Lloyd has become somewhat of a TikTok figure. His daughter continues to post videos of him talking about how happy and gracious he is for all of the support he received. And, exciting news: On August 1, he actually published his sequel to Stone Maidens with William Morrow, which is an imprint of HarperCollins. Pretty inspiring, right?
How to Become an Overnight Bestselling Author: Shawn Warner’s Success Story
Author Sean Warner was sitting at a table in a Kroger in Fort Worth, Texas, with stacked copies of his books, hoping to sell some and sign them for new readers while he was there. No one was coming over to the table, so two strangers approached him and began asking him about his book, which is a YA murder mystery.
One of the men was a TikTokker who filmed their interaction. He said that Shawn looked super defeated and that seeing him all alone made him reflect on moments where he worked super hard for something and then didn't get any recognition for it. This video got more than 20 million views and, like with Lloyd, it skyrocketed Shawn’s sales. His debut novel became a number-one Amazon bestseller, and now it has nearly 4,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4.7-star rating and more than 2,000 reviews on Goodreads with an average 4.4-star rating. That’s an amazing author success story, as well!
What Can We Learn from These Author Success Stories?
So, what can we take away from these two similar stories of sudden success? The most obvious takeaway is the power of the internet and virality — specifically TikTok, which is the platform in which both of these authors found success.
But while TikTok obviously played a big role in both of these stories, I don't think that what we're reacting to is really specific to TikTok. I think both stories reflect the general human desire to extend empathy and support one another in our endeavors. In both of these cases, people were recognizing that someone was putting themselves out there and working hard on their art, and people wanted to support that. They recognized that writing a book is no easy feat, and they wanted to give them that recognition.
Lloyd's story shows us that even sleeper books that are published to little noise and have a very quiet release can actually find a new life even a decade later, which is incredible. And in this case, it really reignited his career: now he has a second book out with a major publishing house!
Shawn’s story reminds us that even if no one shows up to your book signing, that doesn't mean that your project is doomed or that it wasn't worth creating. It reminded me of a Twitter thread that went viral recently, where several best-selling, high-profile authors were talking about how they had book events where no one showed up. Even if someone isn't immediately there when you are putting yourself out there physically, that doesn't mean that you won't find your audience.
It's also super notable that both authors are older; Lloyd is 75 and Shawn is 58. That goes to show there is truly no age limit to pursuing your passion, even for the very first time — both of these authors were debut authors! Age does not limit your success.
Ultimately, I think the moral of both of these stories can come down to: never give up.
I hope these author success stories gave you some inspiration to keep pursuing your dreams, no matter what hardships or obstacles you're facing right now. Even if you aren't getting the attention or recognition that you hope your project will eventually get, that doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to do it.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!