A Texas man became a bestselling creator overnight after a TikTok video showing him selling his debut book at a food market was seen over 17.5 million times.
Shawn Warner, an Army veteran turned pediatric mental medical expert before becoming a software engineer followed his childhood dream and grow to be a author after he was laid off.
So Warner, 58, wrote his first book despite people all the time telling him, “You may’t make a living out of doing that,” based on his website.
Within the now-viral video, Warner was stationed with several of his books on display on the Texas Kroger when two men approached the creator, who sat alone, over the Fourth of July weekend.
“This latest creator seemed super defeated after I first walked past him. So before I left the shop, I made a decision to return,” the video text read.
Warner sat in a foldable lawn chair behind a white cloth-covered table and explained the premise of his novel, “Leigh Howard And The Ghosts Of Simmons-Pierce Manor,” to the boys.
“It’s a couple of teenage girl who teams up with a ghost of multiple personalities to unravel the mystery of her parents’ murder,” Warner said.
As small talk was a conversation, Warner’s facial expressions turned from all the way down to a big smile because the two strangers showed their interest within the book.
Jerrad Swearenjin, the person behind the camera, explained to Warner that he did some “TikToking or what not so I believe I’m gonna get a second one, I’m gonna gift it and see we are able to get you a little bit love on there(sic).”
“When you could just sign it, that way it’s a little bit more personal to whoever gets it,” Swearenjin asked Warner.
Warner had received only two reviews on Amazon before Swearenjin posted the video and rose to the highest of the retail site’s best seller’s list.
“So yesterday on Amazon, he had two reviews and it’s his first book and now he’s a primary best-selling creator on Amazon,” Swearenjin said during a phone call in a second TikTok.
Swearenjin said the explanation he recorded Warner in the primary place was because he “imagined all of the times I worked so hard and never got any recognition.”
“Here’s a fellow neighbor that’s just struggling and I just desired to help him out,” Swearenjin told WFAA after posting the video to his TikTok account “internetfamouslol.”
While Warner’s book stays top of the list on Amazon, he can’t consider the celebrity that has come from one person’s small act of kindness.
“Simply to be nice to some guy sitting alone selling books…the generosity that poured out of that was just amazing, I get choked up,” Warner said tearfully. “They gave me a probability. And that’s just beautiful.”
The overnight success led Warner to create a TikTok account of his own where he has thanked individuals who have reached out and purchased the book and has even given updates about his future.
“Hi, I need to thank everyone for the love and the kindness on the video that Red posted, it was totally unexpected,” Warner told his 117,900 followers. “I’m in shock I don’t even know what to say about it in the intervening time, I’m attempting to wrap my head around it.”
In a follow-up video, Warner announced a hardcover version was within the works and he was in talks together with his publisher to create an audiobook, that will be narrated by Theresa Bakken, who shared a video of herself in a studio starting work on Warner’s overnight bestseller.
Warner, a father of two, vowed he’ll proceed together with his signings at local bookstores and Krogers within the Dallas area.
“It’s surreal, each time I sign a book, it’s almost like I can’t consider I’m doing this,” Warner told WFAA
Warner’s book, originally published in November 2022, was given a spruced-up cover together with his recent accolades featured at the highest noting him as being “Worldwide #1 Amazon Bestseller and TikTok Famous with Thousands and thousands of Views.”
