What if no one showed up to your book signing?
When author Jonathan Stanley set up shop at Barnes & Noble to promote his book, “Purposeful Performance: The Secret Mix of Connecting, Leading, and Succeeding,” only 10 or 15 people stopped to chat with him. But when a mom posted the scene to TikTok, readers across the world showed up – over 70 million of them.
“This sweet man is sitting at B&N with a stack of his books he wrote and my heart is breaking everytime someone passes him,” Pennsylvania-based mom and content creator Taylor Dinelli wrote in her video.
Now, “Purposeful Performance,” which Stanley self-published in August 2024, has skyrocketed to the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon’s Strategic Management section and No. 4 in business overall.
After small act of kindness, millions show up for author
The catalyst behind the viral video? A four-year-old.
It was Dinelli’s daughter Ella who inspired her to post the video and go up to Stanley’s table to talk. Ella dreams of becoming an author, which she told Stanley when they bought his book and he signed it for her.
“He had told her that the biggest gift you could ever give somebody is being yourself, which I thought was so sweet,” Dinelli tells USA TODAY. “I had just posted that TikTok thinking maybe it would encourage a couple people to go up to authors at book signings if they saw that happening. I never in a million years could have imagined that it would have become what it became.”
When Stanley first got to Barnes & Noble that day, he said a fellow author was one of the first people to stop by his table. “I’ve sat in this chair for four hours and I sold one book,” they told him, tempering his expectations. But even with only a handful of conversations that day, Stanley wasn’t deterred. He even posted to LinkedIn to share about the four-year-old who came up to him with “courage” – at the time, he didn’t realize the same child’s mom had also posted a video that was quickly blowing up.
“I said to her, ‘Thank you for your courage, and when you publish your first book, I’m going to be the first person standing in line to buy it,” Stanley tells USA TODAY.
From around the world, social media users reacted to Dinelli’s video.
“He had no idea that the day he felt the most unseen would be the day that millions paid attention and supported him. I like humans a lot sometimes,” one commented.
Stanley started his own account in response to the outpouring of kindness. In just two days, he’s amassed over 670,000 followers.
“I’ve received thousands of messages – so many I can’t keep up. Words of encouragement. Stories of hope. Notes from people who said the book changed their perspective … helped them become better leaders … and reminded them of the importance of bringing humanity back into the workplace,” Stanley wrote on TikTok.
Stanley wrote book ‘to make a difference in someone’s life’
Stanley, a business strategy consultant and coach, began writing “Purposeful Performance” after he lost his job in 2023. But he was proud of the “purpose-driven” company he’d helped build. He wants managers to lead with empathy, turning direct reports into “direct support.” The book offers a strategic plan for businesses to motivate team members.
“The American workforce is broken in so many ways,” he says. “I’ve talked to so many people who are disengaged at work. They feel unheard, unseen and undervalued. So it was really important for me to write a book about bringing humanity back into the workplace.”
Helping readers create a purpose-driven ethos for their company, Stanley’s book helps managers to lead with empathy and “do goodness in the world.”
“The best kept secret is that if you lead with empathy at the heart of everything you do, you can and will be successful,” Stanley says.
Fitting, then, that four-year-old Ella asked Dinelli if there was a way they could continue helping people like Stanley. Dinelli has been pulling out a globe to show her daughter how widespread the support on the video is, pointing at different places around the world where commenters are from.
Now, she’s starting a “Sunday Spotlight” series where she’ll promote an author, small creator or small business to her nearly 40,000 followers to rally behind.
“Even if we can do a fraction, a tenth of what we did for Mr. Stanley, I think it could change someone’s life. And I really think TikTok is the place (where) that can happen,” Dinelli says. She adds, “That’s what we were put on this Earth to do, is to be there for one another.”
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].
