To date, Justin Halpern’s Sh*t My Dad Says has spent 17 weeks on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list. Who could have known that Halpern’s shaky beginning with Twitter account by the same name would have resulted in a bestselling book and a television series?
In a Mediabistro interview, Halpern revealed: “At first, I didn’t even know how to check ‘@ replies.’ I didn’t think there would be any, so I never learned how to check them. Then I figured it out and started scrolling through them. I was getting so many, and I saw one that said, ‘Hey, I think there might be a book in this. If you get this, please Direct Message me.'”
That Twitter contact became Halpern’s literary agent. With the book publication coming to fruition, what was Dad’s reaction? Halpern explained: “He seemed not to really care.”