Aydra Richards (A Deal With A Notorious Devil) | Forced Proximity Interview
Contending with cats to hit word counts, yes to groveling, side-eye to secret babies
This is the quickest I’ve ever heard of an author (via Bluesky recommendations!), read their entire backlist, reached out to interview them, and gotten a response. I went on a straight through binge of Aydra Richards’ historical romances on KU starting the final week of 2024 and continuing through the first week of January 2025, and I am beyond delighted to get to feature her here.
If you haven’t read her before, keep an eye on this newsletter, where her books will absolutely start making appearances! In fact, her book His Reluctant Lady snuck in under the wire to be my last 5 star book of 2024!
Thanks so much for agreeing to doing an interview! Please introduce yourself, perhaps as if you're pitching a marriage of convenience to a notorious devil.
Hi, I’m Aydra! I am a low-maintenance sort of person who drinks more coffee than is strictly healthy and spends the majority of each day in pajamas. Because I am an introvert, I require about as much attention as the average cactus. I’m not very good at in-person socialization, but I’m extremely chatty online. Now that I think about it, probably none of this would sell me terribly well to a prospective husband of convenience.
How would you explain your latest book to a non-romance reader?
My latest release, A Deal With a Notorious Devil, explores the breaking of traditional societal conventions, both with a marriage of convenience between two people of distinctly different classes and the mutual decision not to have children in a time period where such a decision would be highly unusual.
How would you explain it to a regular reader of romance?
Two people from different classes who don’t want children marry against societal conventions, slowly fall in love, and remain happily childfree. Along the way they navigate wildly differing family dynamics, a bit of crime and intrigue, and learn to appreciate each other for who they are.
What’s something you wish you knew at the beginning of your writing career?
I wish I had known just how much of writing was actually marketing! Turns out, I’m not great at selling myself. I’m very bad at most forms of social media. While I love to talk with people online, I just don’t really have the sort of social media acumen required to really build up a solid presence. I suppose I could post more pictures, but probably 90% of them would be of my cats.
What has surprised you about writing professionally?
Honestly? That it’s something I get to do professionally. Writing can be such a difficult industry to break into, and it can be exceptionally hard to get noticed. Of course talent and developed skill are important, but luck plays a not-insignificant role as well. I’m grateful to have attracted some notice, and to have readers that continue to read my books.
What’s your writing routine, if you have one?
Because I have cats that will rage-kick my laptop straight off of my lap given half a chance, I do most of my writing outside on the patio where they can’t get to me. When I’m actively writing, I aim for 2000-3000 words per day. I’m generally most creative at night, so occasionally I might be up well into the wee hours. The coffee certainly helps with that! I tend to prioritize word goals over routine, since I have terrible writing hygiene. I thrive in chaos; you would be appalled at how infrequently I remember to save a document. I might have a (very) general plan when I begin a book, but I have never once outlined or done drafts. But it’s the chaos of it all that keeps me productive, really—I need the freedom the distinct lack of a concrete plan gives me to take a story wherever it’s going, even if it’s not where I expected it to go.
What hobbies do you have outside of work that aren’t literature-related?
Lots of nerd hobbies! I play video games (though I am, admittedly, very bad at them). Final Fantasy is a favorite franchise of mine, and I also keep a World of Warcraft subscription active. I don’t really do much in-game, but sometimes I’ll fly around pick flowers or mine ore just to have a mindless task to do while I’m thinking my way around a particular plot point. I’ve also been known to play Dungeons and Dragons, and I watch anime when I’ve got the time. I’m not great with more recent titles, but some personal favorites are Another, Hana Yori Dango, Paradise Kiss, and Madoka Magica.
Which of your protagonists would you most like to be forced into proximity with? Why?
Oh, definitely Sebastian Knight, from My Deceitful Duchess. Like me, he’s not great at small talk, and we both love learning things just for the sake of knowledge. I have so much useless trivia stuffed into my head that I’m pretty darn good at Jeopardy! If I have to be forced into proximity with someone, I would absolutely prefer it to be someone who can teach me new things. I would be riveted!
How do you find new authors and books to try?
I get most of my recommendations from Reddit! There are several subreddits, such as r/Romancebooks and r/Historicalromance, that are absolutely fantastic resources for recommendations. The readers who post there are so passionate about the books they read; I really cannot recommend them enough.
Is there a romance trope that’s an auto-read for you? What about one you’re suspicious of unless a favorite author tries it out?
Actual groveling is an auto-read. I can’t stand it when a character gets let off the hook too easily! I want to see the suffering. I’m not really a fan of the amnesia or secret baby tropes—but I have written them myself before, because I found it interesting to take a trope I don’t usually enjoy and try to write it in a way that would make me enjoy it. For that reason, I’d trust a favorite author to do the same.
What were the strategies you employed in the early days of your self-publishing journey?
I think the closest I ever got to a concrete “strategy” was that when I first began publishing, I wrote four books in relatively quick succession. I released them all within six months, and that, I think, helped more than anything else. It’s easy to fade into obscurity, but publishing at regular intervals can help build an audience. Since then, I’ve made it a personal goal to write at least two books a year.
What were your priorities that allowed you to reach the readers who love you, they just didn’t realize it yet?
I prioritize writing the sort of books I want to read, and I think that’s been really helpful. Sometimes that’s groveling, and sometimes it’s things I feel like I don’t see enough of in literature, like infertility that doesn’t end in a miracle baby, or happily childfree couples, or neurodivergent characters. I always try to portray these things with sensitivity, but I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to see themselves in literature. I hope I've been able to help at least a few people do that. I’ve also been incredibly lucky in the fact that the people who have found my books and enjoyed them tend to talk about them. There’s been no marketing I have ever done that could hope to compare just to the simple word-of-mouth recommendations of readers. The honest truth is that readers have sold my books far better than I have ever done, and for that I am extremely grateful.
What else do you want readers to know about you and your work, if anything?
I feel like writers sometimes come across as somewhat intimidating presences on the internet, and oh, boy, that is just not me. I am a very average lady who spends the vast majority of her time drinking coffee in her pajamas (and, presently, a strawberry-patterned hoodie with a large front pocket that I refer to as ‘Cat Jail for Bad Cats’). I don’t have an agent or an assistant or a PR manager; it’s just me. I always make time to answer emails, and I love to chat. I’m immensely thankful for every reader who has helped me achieve my dream, because it is, and always has been, a joint effort. We create worlds together. Thank you for letting me take up a bit of space inside your head for a few hours at a time. I hope you enjoy seeing into mine!
Thank you to Aydra for joining us this week! More from Aydra: Website | Instagram | Facebook
Next week, I’ll be recommending books with my favorite marriage of convenience subtrope, marriages of safety! Eagle-eyed readers will realize this is a second roundup- my first marriage of safety round up can be found here!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!
Follow me on social: Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky
Available now: my debut marriage of convenience romance Rehabbing the Billionaire! Buy your copy on Amazon, or snag it on Kindle Unlimited! Then, rate it on Goodreads to help more people discover it!
oooooh just downloaded this to read!!