Daughter helps dad sell his book by making him a viral sensation

A humble retiree who had not a single person turn up to his local library at the launch of his debut book has experienced an extraordinary turn of fortune.

A retiree who had no one show up at his local library for the launch of his debut book is on his way to becoming a bestseller thanks to his daughter’s clever marketing.

Kelly J. Frank released To The Moon Investing with high hopes in December, but struggled to gain any buzz for the self-help finance book.

But that all changed when his daughter set up a TikTok account and started documenting his journey as a new author online.

She posted a series of “behind the scene” videos, showcasing the effort he had put in as a debut author.

“My dad spent two weeks making his first YouTube to promote his book hoping it would blow up but it’s only got 15 views,” her first video was captioned.

The daughter shared her dads notes he wrote to prepare for the video. Picture: @kellyjfrankstocks / TikTok

Mr Frank's daughter has shared behind the scenes footage of her dad. Picture: @kellyjfrankstocks / TikTok

In a follow-up video the daughter captured the wholesome moment Mr Frank found out he went viral.

“Dad I posted a TikTok video of you yesterday and it did very good,” she tells her dad.

“Guess how many view it got?”

Mr Frank goes on to guess 60 views, only to be told the real number - more than 160,000. That view count has since ballooned out to 6 million now.

He appears to be visibly stunned by the success it has received online, thanking everyone and saying he “loves” people for helping him.

Mr Frank is the founder of 13.8 Capital, an asset management firm focused on growth investments.

His book To the Moon Investing: Visually Mapping Your Winning Stock-Market Portfolio aims to help people become investors and navigate an increasingly volatile market through the use of tailored portfolio maps.

According to the video no one showed up to a book launch event. Picture: @kellyjfrankstocks / TikTok

The viral videos have racked up millions of views, with people taking to comments to support the debut author.

“I love this guy I hope he gets what he deserves and more, he seems like a good guy,” one person wrote.

“This is just the beginning in the end he may be a millionaire you never know just keep going,” chimed in another.

A third wrote: “I love how he has a very professional approach to everything – researching first, making a plan, etc.”

While a few people also added that the videos “nearly made them cry” and were “pulling at heart strings.”

Though it is impossible to find out exactly how many copies of the books have been sold, hundred of people have mentioned they will either buy the book or have already bought it.

Ever since the TikToks went viral the book has been slowly climbing Amazon book charts and has since become one of the top 2000 finance books on the Kindle Store.

Yet not everyone is on board with the wholesome outcome of the videos, with some dubbing it a “marketing campaign” and a “joke”

In July last year similar TikTok videos helped an author become a viral sensation with his book Stone Maiden reaching the #1 on the Amazon bestseller list 10 years after its release.

Lloyd Devereux Richards’ daughter initially took to TikTok to show how “defeated” her father looked after a book signing event went by quietly, with no one wanting to purchase the novel.

Marguerite Richards has continued to document her fathers life, as he now begins to write a sequel to the best-selling novel.