Watch: Viral TikTok video turns an author into a bestseller overnight

Dubai: The world changed overnight for an author at a Barnes and Noble in Pennsylvania, after he met a mother and daughter duo at his book signing event.

In a TikTok video posted by Taylor Dinelli on March 22, she shows an author sitting at his table for a book signing, all alone.

“This sweet man is sitting at Barnes and Noble with a stack of his books he wrote and my heart is breaking every time someone passes him,” the text on the video reads.

The video, which now has over 77.1 million views and over 10.6 million likes, went viral overnight making Jonathan Stanley, the author, turn into an Amazon bestseller.

Johnathan Stanley, the author of Purposeful Performance: The Secret Mix of Connecting, Leading, and Succeeding, had only around ten to fifteen people stop to chat to him at the book signing, including Dinelli and her daughter Ella.

Stanley wrote and self-published this book in August 2024, after he lost his job in 2023. According to American news website, USA Today, Stanley’s book skyrocketed to the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon’s Strategic Management section and No. 4 in business overall.

In an interview with USA Today, Dinelli revealed that it was Ella who inspired her to go up to Stanley’s table at the signing and to post the video on TikTok.

“He had told her that the biggest gift you could ever give somebody is being yourself, which I thought was so sweet,” Dinelli said. Stanley even thanked Ella on his LinkedIn post, after the book signing, unaware that he would become viral overnight.

She revealed the video was posted with hopes that maybe a couple of people would show up and go up to authors at book signings if they did see this happen again. “I never in a million years could have imagined that it would have become what it became,” she added.

According to Dinelli, it is Ella’s dream to become an author one day, which she had mentioned to Stanley when they bought his book, which he signed for her.

In a TikTok video posted by Stanley himself, he thanked Dinelli and Ella and everyone else who made it possible for everything that happened.

Dinelli shared another video to let people know what she would start a Sunday Spotlight where she hopes to help more creators, authors etc.

“Let’s continue spreading kindness and helping others,” she captioned the video.

Stanley commented on the video saying, “You’re not a nobody – you’re a hero for putting yourself out there and spreading good. Keep inspiring. You’ve sparked a movement.”