Late Self-Publishing Author Makes Bestseller List and Donates to a Good Cause

Self-publishing Outskirts Press author, the late Lyndon Kelly, fulfilled his lifelong dream and published his first (and only) book a little over two years ago. Since then, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Shortly thereafter, his grandchildren, Kim Freid and Jeff Haynes, took interest in taking their grandpa to the top of the bestseller list before he passed on from his illness.

Lyndon was excited by the idea and committed to donate any and all proceeds from the book to Katie Wagner, a 16-year-old girl who is plagued by the same disease. His grandchildren were up to the challenge. They set to launch their campaign on February 1, 2012. Lyndon lost his battle with Cancer on January 27, 2012.

While his body was not present to see his book catapult to the top of the bestseller list, his giving spirit lives on in the proceeds that he opted to earmark for young Katie. At the start of the campaign, Great Gramma Ann’s Scrapbook catapulted to number one on Barnes & Noble’s bestseller list, number 40 on Amazon’s best selling list, and to the top 10 in Amazon’s self help and biography and memoir category.

So how’d they do it? Well, it started with this video:

Family and friends shared the video with with their friends and family until the spreading of the news became monumental – all leading up to February 1.

While the goal of the campaign was to get as many sales as possible on February 1, the family is still donating all book sales proceeds to young Katie Wagner. We are urging all of our authors and readers to purchase a copy of the book that made it to the top of the bestseller list in favor of a good cause.