After being laid off from his job as a software engineer, former 82nd Airborne Division Paratrooper and father of two, Shawn Warner, decided to ignore the naysayers and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a writer. He self-published his first book, a young adult supernatural mystery titled “Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor.” Over the 4th of July holiday, he set up a table at a Kroger grocery store near his home in Arlington, Texas, to promote his book.
Jerrad “Red” Swearenjin was shopping at the Kroger that day and stopped to chat with Warner. He says Warner looked “super defeated” when he first passed his table. Swearenjin, who goes by @internetfamouslol on TikTok, shot a video with the author and asked if he could share his story with his 30-thousand followers. The TikTok post quickly went viral, racking up over 18-million views and more than 23-thousand comments.
Before the viral video, Warner only had two reviews of his book on Amazon, but soon some of those thousands of people who saw the footage started buying his book and leaving five-star reviews. Within a few days, Warner’s book had skyrocketed to the top of Amazon’s best seller list and received over 12-hundred positive reviews. In a follow-up video posted to his own TikTok, Warner says he was shocked by the love and kindness he’s been receiving and thanked everyone for their support.
Source: SUNNY SKYZ