Second Career Author – Tony Riches

Following on from the questions I sent last November on being a second career author, today I’m talking to British Historical Fiction author Tony Riches, best known for The Tudor Trilogy, all three books of which have reached #1 on Amazon US and UK.

Hi Tony – thanks for agreeing to tell your story. What sort of career did you have before becoming a writer?

After gaining my degree and my MBA from Cardiff University, I held senior roles as a Director of the UK National Health Service, for a major UK Management Consulting Firm and as a Chief Officer of the biggest Local Authority in Wales. I also worked as a specialist Project Manager on significant regeneration projects.

Was there a triggering event that prompted you to begin writing?

I’d always written for journals and magazines, as well as being a Wikipedia reviewer. I found myself in the fortunate position of being able to ‘retire’ on a private pension, ten years earlier than planned, which enabled me to fulfil my lifelong ambition to become a published author.

Do you now write full time or part time?

I write full time and have published at least one book a year for the past five years. As I write historical fiction and prefer to use primary sources, this means spending spring and summer researching and visiting locations, then writing through the autumn and winter months.

What parts of the writing career do you enjoy the most/the least?

I enjoy hearing from readers around the world, particularly when they tell me my books have inspired them to look deeper into medieval history. The least enjoyable aspect of writing as a career is reading reviews where there is no right of reply, (such as the reader who recently said my book OWEN was too short – it is a perfectly respectable 320 pages and is the first book of a trilogy!)

What parts of your former career do you miss/not miss?

I don’t miss my former work at all, although when I first ‘retired’ I felt I should make use of my skills and management experience, so I supported the development of the local community arts charity for a year, which I found very rewarding.

Do you have any regrets?

Sometimes I wish I’d started writing years earlier, but work would almost certainly have conflicted with my writing time. I was also lucky to have started writing when Amazon and eBooks were becoming established as a viable international marketplace. My timing was also perfect for becoming an ‘early adopter’ of blogging and social media, which has significantly helped raise awareness of my books.

What advice would you offer other second career writers?

Read as much as you can – and remember if you only manage to write one page a day, that’s a book a year!

For information about Tony’s books please visit his website www.tonyriches.com  and his popular blog, The Writing Desk at www.tonyriches.co.uk. You can also find him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tonyriches.author and Twitter @tonyriches.

Thanks for sharing your background and experience, Tony. I’m holding onto that one-page-a-day concept!

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel, TIME AND REGRET was published by Lake Union. Mary’s other novels, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.