After different odd-jobs, Tosches started writing with poetry and rock-'n'-roll magazines, including Creem, Fusion, and Rolling Stone.
Tosches' second book, a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis named Hellfire was published in 1982. Subsequent biographies have covered the lives of Dean Martin, Michele Sindona, Sonny Liston, Emmett Miller, and Arnold Rothstein.
Tosches has also published a collection of poetry, and three novels. He has been published in Vanity Fair, Esquire and Open City. The Nick Tosches Reader collects writings from over the course of his career.
Tosches was featured on the popular Travel Channel show No Reservations in the episode "Disappearing Manhattan". He and Bourdain shared a drink at Sophie's in the East Village, a Manhattan dive bar, and they discussed the changing nature of the city.
No Reservations in the episode "Disappearing Manhattan", 2009
Johnny Depp has purchased the film rights to Tosches' novel In The Hand Of Dante. It is in development and set for release some time in 2011 (as of October 2009). Depp will play Tosches in the film.
On People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938:
I’ve been sitting here watching the remains of this short-lived country go down the drain, and there is no better soundtrack to this than People Take Warning, a grand and beautiful set—in every sense, from the remastered recordings to the notes to the extraordinary design work—that gives perspective both to these days and those of the past. This is white-hot history, a danse macabre, and, above all, a wealth of great old and timeless music.