Meet Philip Cox | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Philip Cox and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Philip, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I guess it’s because I’ve always been kind of creative. When I was growing up I was always sitting at the table gluing together some aircraft or battleship model, and I and a couple of friends set up and ran a school newspaper. That was when I was in 4th grade or Year 5 as they call it in the UK. When I progressed to a senior school, studies had to take priority.

However, those creative juices never left me. When I passed some exams, my parents bought me a Super 8 movie camera (remember them?) and projector, and I used to disappear with friends or on my own to make a short movie – only 5 or 10 minutes. My favourite was one of my brother being stalked through some local woods, and being mauled to death by a rubber claw!

I am also a model railway/railroad enthusiast and for the past 40 years have had a layout of some kind either in a spare room, or the garage. It’s fun running the trains, but my greatest joy is constructing buildings, track, scenery, super-detailing the trains… The list is endless.

Since leaving school until the birth of my eldest daughter 15 years ago, I had a career in banking and financial services, rising to the level of Branch Manager. Taking a break from banking, I had the opportunity to finally realise my ambition and write a novel. I had made several attempts before, but the day job always got in the way. I finally did this, and eventually got it published on the Amazon Kindle platform. This was my first book, “After the Rain”. I read somewhere that almost everybody has a book inside them, provided they put in the time and work, but few people could write a second, or a third. So I began #2, #3, and so on.

So basically, I have chosen a second career, a creative career, because that seems to come naturally. I tend not to think of it as work, as I enjoy it so much. Especially when the proof paperback arrives in that brown card package!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It definitely wasn’t easy; but then if it was easy, maybe it wouldn’t be so rewarding.

When I finished my first book, I wanted to get it published, but had no idea how to. I had a 65000 word manuscript but didn’t know what to do next. I had read that publishers – traditional, that is – are unlikely to even look at a manuscript unless it come from an agent. So I needed to find myself an agent. Getting agents’ names and addresses was easy – the Writers and Artists Yearbook in the local library provided that information. So I sent the next few months spending pounds and pounds on postage mailing first three chapters, synopses, and other stuff. I then realised that most UK agents are based in London, so the I spent days and days walking miles around London hand delivering the stuff, which always had to be hard copies, bizarrely. Those agents that did reply (a small percentage) said something along the lines of thank you for thinking of us, but not something for us at this time.

It was then by accident that I discovered the Amazon Kindle platform. On here my books are published as eBooks, paperback or hardback. Over the years, this has been a huge learning curve, with many challenges, all of which are only overcome by reading the ‘how to’ guide and not just winging it, by continually checking and checking and again, reading again, re-reading again, getting other people to help with the proof-reading, and having a tried and tested business and launch plan.

Basically, that’s my story. I wanted to get one book out of my system: now I am just about starting #14. My books are mystery thrillers – not intended for under 15s, I always mention that, as my kids’ schools have sometimes asked about the books’ availability, and I have to say, no, no, no…

The 13 books so far include two running series: one is centered around a guy by the name of Jack Richardson, a investigative reporter; the other features Sam Leroy, who is a detective with the LAPD. Obviously I know London pretty well, but I have been to Los Angeles many times, and I try to make the stories set there as realistic as I can, appealing to readers in both the US and the UK. Incidentally, the LA-based books tend to sell better than the others.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The town in which I live is around twenty miles outside of London, so its comparatively easy to get into the city for a day trip or of an evening, or a combination; in fact, there are so many varied places to go or things to do, we’d probably need two or three days there. Probably cheaper to travel in and out each day than book a hotel. Options up for discussion would be a traditional see the sights trip: Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Downing Street, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc. For that kind of itinerary, one of those open top double decker buses is ideal.

If we were interested in something more eclectic, we cold try a riverboat cruise, visit Camden Market, or Portobello Road, or the London Eye. There are also loads of museums to choose from. Or if we were feeling more energetic, we could walk up to the top of the hill on Hampstead Heath, or Alexandra Palace Park, where, if it’s clear enough, you can see for miles and miles.

Or explore Docklands. Just so many places to choose from. And that’s just the daytime. While we were in London, we’d have to take in a show. Again spoilt for choice: I’d probably suggest the Back to the Future musical; or if we’re around at the right time, the Elf musical is returning in November this year.

Eating out – again, so many places, The West End is crammed with eating places, some traditional, others more international. If I had to choose, though, I’d settle for a beer or two at the Duke of York’s in Charing Cross Road, then a trip to Eggslut, off Tottenham Court Road. I first came across Eggslut on a trip to LA – it’s in the Grand Central Market – and visit the ones in London as often as I can. “A Fairfax, please.”

Still plenty to do outside of London. I’m a Star Wars fan, and I don’t live that far from Elstree Studios, where the original trilogy was shot. It’s only 20 minutes down the motorway. You can’t see much from the street, but it always good to point the entrance to the place and say that’s where it all happened. Not quite the same at the Paramount arches on Melrose, but you can’t have it all.

If we decide to go somewhere quieter, there’s always the Rye Meads Nature reserve. A huge but quiet place – acres and acres of wetlands hosting all nature of indigenous birds. I was once taking my children on a walk there when they were smaller and we came across five or six cygnets. I remarked how unusual it was to find baby swans on their own, then we turned a corner in the path, only to be confronted by Mom and Dad Swan. We managed to survive the encounter.

Finally, we’d take a trip out to Suffolk, East Anglia. That’s the round part of England, just above the Thames. We’d head for a place called Aldeborough, a small town on the North Sea coast. There we’d buy ourselves fish and chips and sit on the sea wall, eating it with or fingers. I’ve been told I’m a bit of a culinary philistine as my favourite meal is cod in batter with chips, accompanied by salt, vinegar, and ketchup. I’ve had ‘English fish and chips’ on trips to the States, but it’s never the same. The flip side to that is, there are so-called ‘American Diners’ in the UK, but they are nothing like the genuine article.

And at the end of the week, all be exhausted, and we’d crash at mine, with a few Budweisers and a Chinese takeout.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think it would have to be my wife and kids. They have to put up with me disappearing for hours on end to the library to carry out research, and to write. Then a few months later out and about to various bookstores for marketing. My two daughters have helped out when I’ve been at book fairs, manning the stand and taking the money. The books are write are murder mysteries, sometimes quite dark – I’ve been asked a couple of times, if books were rated in the same way as movies, what would they be? Maybe the occasional PG-13, but mainly R. This means that some of the things I have to research and learn about are quite dark – very dark in some cases, and when I get home with my head filled with that stuff, the family is able to get me back into the real world.

Website: www.booksbyphilipcox.com

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Image Credits
I am the owner of all the images.