Although his first book was published in 1972, Richard's career really began in the early 1980s when he started reading palms in shopping malls. It was illegal to charge for palm readings in New Zealand at that time. To get around this problem, Richard wrote a 32-page booklet to sell. Everyone who bought one received a free reading. However, about a month later, Richard's customers returned, wanting another booklet. After writing more than thirty of these, Richard realised he couldn't put off what he was meant to do any longer. He became a fulltime writer, specializing in ghost writing. Over the years, Richard ghosted twenty books for other people. When one of these books sold more than 80,000 copies, Richard realised it was time to start writing more books under his own name.

The first of these was a book on ghost writing (Secrets of Ghost Writing) which was published by Breese Books Limited, London , in 1987. It is still in print. Richard wrote two more books for this publisher, and then found a new home with Llewellyn Books in the United States . Since 1994 they have published 32 of his books.

Richard has also worked as a magician, stage hypnotist and hypnotherapist, and has written books on all of these subjects. Brookfield Press published 23 of his books on magic, as well as a book for hypnotherapists on how to conduct past life regressions. Flora and Company in the United States published his video course, "The Richard Webster Hypnotism Show", the first instructional video on how to become a stage hypnotist.

Richard is married with three children and four grandchildren. His great, great aunt (Louisa Ann Meredith) was a well-known author in the late nineteenth century, and his grandfather and mother were also writers. Richard's three children are also interested in pursuing writing careers.