Why Most People Never Write the Book Inside Them | Sierra Melcher

What happens when someone who struggled with reading and dyslexia grows up to publish books and help others become authors?

In this episode of Books4Guys, Chris sits down with Sierra Melcher, founder and CEO of Red Thread Publishing, to discuss creativity, writing, personal growth, mental health, journaling, entrepreneurship, and the life changing power of books. Sierra shares her journey from high school teacher to yoga studio owner to founder of a publishing company that has helped bring more than 76 books into the world.

The conversation dives deep into the creative process, overcoming self doubt, identity transformation through writing, and why so many people hold themselves back from pursuing the stories they are meant to tell. Sierra also shares powerful insights on journaling, burnout, creativity cycles, publishing, and how books can help people better understand themselves and the world around them.

Chris and Sierra also discuss:
 • Why writing a book changes your identity
 • The connection between creativity and mental health
 • The importance of reading in today’s distracted world
 • The balance between discipline and creativity
 • Why journaling can help unlock ideas and personal growth
 • Entrepreneurship, mistakes, and learning through failure
 • Fahrenheit 451 and why everyone should reread it today
 • How books create human connection and transformation

Whether you are an aspiring author, entrepreneur, reader, or someone looking for inspiration and growth, this episode is packed with meaningful conversation and practical insight.

Connect with Sierra Melcher:
 • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierra-melcher/
 • Red Thread Publishing website: https://redthreadbooks.com/

Subscribe to @Books4Guys for conversations focused on books, leadership, growth, wellness, mindset, and helping men become better readers, thinkers, leaders, and professionals.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Lee, I uh met a guy at our gym who is from Columbia.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yeah. And I was like As soon as you hear about it, then it's everywhere, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yeah, yeah. I was like, I've only met like three people who have been there. Two are from there, and then uh you who now live there.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yeah. But Sierra, this is gonna be great. I appreciate you taking the time to come on the Books for Guys podcast as you and I got to connect for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was such an awesome conversation. Nick, how you found me, he actually, when we you made a post and I reposted it, he was like, dude, you were talking to so many people. Like, how did you all of a sudden talk to Sierra right after me? And I was like, hey man, we're just we're just flowing with it.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I love it. Well, and that's the connection of the world. Like, not every part of the internet's great, but the fact that we can make these connections and be really intentional about connecting with the right people. Like we said before, I was like, I just had this urge to connect and say hi. And then we had a great conversation, and now we we're here. I think I think lots of beautiful things unfold when we follow those instincts.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah, absolutely. And now I've got, you know, one of the books that you sent me, Mental Health, which is a great book for books for guys. I've actually already got it on the Books for Guys website, and work on getting more. And Sierra would love to just for you to share a little bit more about your story because you so Red Thread Publishing, you're the CEO and founder of it, you've been a podcast host, you've been a speaker, you have tons of books that you've written or contributed to. And uh, you know, and and if people didn't gauge from the opening part of our conversation, you live in Columbia, which you are officially our first guest ever that has well, definitely that's living in Columbia. You know, any no one else has been on that's even been from Columbia or anything associated with it. So that's uh you'll hold that record for a long time, I'm sure. But no, I mean Sierra, just talk a little bit about your background. How you how you found your passion for writing, and then all of a sudden, you know, transitioning to helping other individuals find and create their story and creating your publishing company and all of that. What what's your story?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Such a great question, never an easy one to answer succinctly. So I'm just gonna hit you with some things and we'll see where it goes. So once upon a time, I was a high school teacher. I lived in Vermont, I lived in California, I got a job in Shanghai in China, worked in China for a while, and then moved to Columbia. So teaching brought me here and it brought like opened a lot of doors and sort of changed where and how I think about the world. As with many things that we're passionate about, they can grow old and we can lose the passion or have so much passion that there's no more room for us in where we started, which is what happened for me with teaching. I had so much passion about teaching, and it was sort of like just be a good little teacher and keep doing what you do. And after 15 years of just being great, I couldn't just keep doing that. I evolved into opening a yoga studio. It was the first bilingual yoga studio in Medellin, Colombia. And that was my first business, as with a lot of things. I think maybe some people go into business because they studied business or know anything about business. I didn't. I went into business, asked backwards a little bit, and learned a lot, mostly because I made all of the mistakes that you can possibly make. But each of those mistakes forced me. I do like a good problem. And so each of the mistakes forced me to have a creative solution to the problem, which then made this really unique community or unique niche. And, you know, each of the problems caused a cool innovation where where some people are like, well, I'm just not good at this. I'm like, well, how do we fix this? How do we pivot? What do we do? I sold the yoga studio after a couple of years, which is kind of cool to like have sold my first business. I didn't sell it for as much as most people are thinking when they sell a business. It's like I wasn't rolling in it, but it's like all those mistakes.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

They're at the ending.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

It's true. And and it's because of those innovations, because of the mistakes, the creative solutions made the business not just another business, right? It was like this cool, weird thing that worked. And the backpack story is that I'm dyslexic. And so I remember being 13 and not knowing how to read. I could kind of put words, I mean, I could put words together, but I really I couldn't read smoothly. I struggled with words, I struggled with reading a ton. And so I didn't think that I was smart. I didn't think that I could write, but eventually I disproved all of that. And the first time I sat down to write a book was in a teaching hiatus about one of my first adventures in China. That book, spoiler alert, never got finished or published. And then that experience taught me that I was right. I'm not a writer, I'm not good at this. And so it sat for festering for 10 years. And then I wanted to disprove the theory again and started to dabble. I took some courses, I drafted some things, I experimented, um, and eventually wrote a manuscript that I wasn't ready to publish. And then I was like, I'm gonna write a book. God damn it, I'm gonna do this before my daughter turns five. I'm gonna write, I'm gonna publish a book before my daughter turns five. And that was January. She turns five at the end of March. Three months.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

And I was like, okay, I'm gonna write something real quick. I'm gonna learn how to publish it, and I'm gonna get it out in the world because I said I would. And so my very first book, Baby Was Born, it's called How Change Really Happens. It's this tiny little book, but I think it's like 96 of the best pages maybe I've ever written, partially because I didn't wasn't trying to take myself too seriously. And I wrote about stuff that I cared about and that I loved, but I discovered, A, that I was wrong. I am smart and I can write, which is kind of great. But I also discovered and put together so many people hold themselves back from stuff they just haven't tried yet, based on some stories about why they can't do it. And I watched people watch my process and they all sort of leaned in and they're like, How did you do that? Because I then took the earlier manuscript and published my second book, Date Yourself, six months later. So I published a couple of books on my own, learned the process. And then everyone was like, I've always wanted to write a book to help me figure this out. And so my high school teaching experience helps me people, helps me help people write their books. And then now we've been in business for six years and we've published 76 books, including some that I've written by myself, but most of them are for authors. And I do love, I love books, and which is why you and I are connected. I love, I just reread Fahrenheit 451. Talk about a society where people aren't reading, where we're not connected, um, where stories no longer are bringing people together or helping them find deep quality within themselves. And that I was thinking about that book and your work this morning because two things happen when we write. One, obviously, we create something that we can then hand someone else. This is a piece of my heart, my soul, my mind, my learning, my struggles. And I want to give you, save you 10 years or whatever. Here's here's my book. So it's something that can create humanity, I think. That I think we all understand the power of a book in that regard. But I don't know that enough people are talking about what happens for the human who becomes the writer, who becomes the author, and the identity transformation that we have to go through. And it is brutal. Everyone wants me, you know, say how easy it is to write a book and say how easy it is to go from here to there. It is, and it's brutal. But I love helping people face those challenges, stare down those demons, walk through fire, prove themselves wrong, and go from being the someday I want to be a writer or I wish I could, which just has already like they've already tapped out of that story, right? It's I wish I could to the shit I did. I am. And what happens in that is I just did an impossible thing. And they leave with the what else can I do? And it just unlocks anything. Maybe it's more books, maybe it's a business, maybe it's a foundation. And I just love the high that I see when people see what they're capable of.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Yep. That's my story.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

How's that?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

No, and I love, I love seeing your the progression of the story you just told because I knew where it was going as far as you realizing what you could do and then creating your company now where you help other people see what they can do. And I was hoping you were gonna go there because I I didn't act as you were talking, I was like, I know where she's going with this. So this is this is really good. And I can see your passion for it, and there's just not a better feeling either. I I I love when people are helping other people because I think we talked a little about a little bit about this in our first conversation. It's fun to see people succeed, it's fun to see the light bulb come on and see people overcome challenges, and when they do it, they're so excited and you're so excited for them. And I'm sure every author that you've worked with, there's there's probably these great moments you have where you're like, yes, see, you did it. Probably never gets old.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

It doesn't. It gets it gets familiar, which is really interesting. But the life is funny, right? It's kind of mundane. Life, life is just life, right? But when you publish a book, I sit my authors down and I was like, guess what? It's time to update your email signature. Author. Right? Author or best-selling author of hyperlink title. Okay, that doesn't feel like doesn't seem like it would be a big thing. Graduation is just like walking across a stage and being handed a piece of paper. It's usually blank and it maybe it doesn't even have your name on it yet. They'll send it to you later, but it's a thing where you, you know, you move the taskful over, you update your email signature, and even if you're not quite ready to see yourself like this yet, other people start seeing you this way, responding to you with this credibility that, and then you grow into that person, right? It's wild. It's it's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

The books you showed, uh kind of a two-part question here, because I've learned a lot actually through a couple of other conversations since we last spoke. But do you journal on a daily basis? Like, do you write because and and I'll tell you why I'm asking this question. I I had a former NFL all-pro guy on our podcast, and his the message is incredible because he talks about the importance of journaling, and that's where his next book's coming from. Is he journaled for an entire season and he's gonna share the ups, the downs, the feelings. You know, there's not many books out there about that. There's stories, but none that's just hey, here's the daily breakdown, and the amount of people, especially guys, that messaged me like, dude, I'm gonna start journaling, I'm gonna start journaling. And then I had other conversations where it was like, Yeah, that's where these books can be born out of, is you go back and you look and you you see where you've how far you've come or what you were feeling in that day. So it kind of helps you put this story together. And so I was just curious to know, just do you journal? And is that part of a process for you, or maybe some of your authors when they're writing, you know, their stories, just what's where does journaling play into that?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Amazing. And then I love the question. I think journaling is a really powerful tool. I also think it's very easy for anyone in a position like mine to say, I do this, and then everybody else is like, well, I should try it too, right? It works for her. And it's amazing and can be a slippery slope. I've definitely done massive seasons of journaling. But if I am not successful journaling every day, then it can become this trap that I fall into. And I, it's another thing I didn't do today, right? And I watch aspiring authors look to advice and then we just try on what other people are saying we should do. And so often we're like, well, it didn't work for me. And instead of thinking, well, I should find another strategy that works for me, we think, well, it didn't work for me, and therefore I'm not a writer. And so I want to be really, really clear that I want people to try whatever. I want them to try and find what works for them. And because what works for me now isn't what worked for me five years ago. And it's not even just like, well, if so and so says, then I should try it. And if it doesn't work, I'm the failure. It's I'm not the same person I was back then. And so from the perspective that you're bringing up, journaling is super powerful for decompressing and just processing one's day, for creating a record because we're really good at forgetting how far we've come. And it's part of how I'm I can beat myself up all day long. Because if I'm not tracking my wins or my ups and downs, then I'm just like, well, here, here I am, and we don't have the context. So journaling is really powerful for getting through the day, understanding what we're going through, and giving that broader perspective. If I wrote every day, I would probably have an idea for a book every day, which is wonderful, endlessly frustrating because it can take three months to five years to write a book. But if you've had 900 great ideas, it's, you know, what do I do with all of this information? And so um, having a conversation about it, making a post, writing an article, writing a chapter, writing a piece of a thing can be ways to exercise some of those ideas. But for anybody who, because that book that I sent you, men's mental health, anybody who's struggling, anybody who is feeling creative or stuck, I think journaling is great for both of those things because it gets us aware of what's going on underneath the surface. We're living in a world where we're doing a lot and we're seeing a lot and we're thinking a lot and digesting a lot. If we don't have, if we don't have a way to process, it's like eating. I think about my mental space like food because it's tangible. If I shoved my mouth full of food all day long, the way we sort of do with technology, but I didn't have like a digestive track, but I just shoved all day long and didn't expel anything or pull meaning and nutrients from anything, I would be blocked up and starving at the same time. And I think journaling is a way of making meaning, sifting through and feeling fed in a daily experience. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

I'm glad you said that about the like uh sometimes it can just feel like a thing to do. Um I'm like you. I've I've gone through phases where I journal. And I and when I go back when I'm on breaks and look through it, it's kind of cool to see some of the things I wrote and it kind of motivates me to write again. But there were days where it felt like I was failing if I didn't sit down and journal. But thankfully I've got this really cool app called Time Hop, and then pictures pop up and all this stuff. I'm like, oh, I remember that, you know, from seven, eight years ago, and it's kind of another tool that while it's not journaling, it does bring up memories and thoughts, and so it just kind of makes me feel a little bit better that I'm still kind of you know seeing things from the past and stuff. Sierra, as far like one question for you, specifically for like publishing and authors you work with, how do you determine who you're gonna work with or what authors do you just take? If anyone comes to you and says, Hey, I want to write a book, are you like, sure, let's do it, or do you have a criteria? Because I know I don't know if it's still the same, but I know you were really focused on female authors. But do you still follow that criteria, or what do you look for in someone when you're going to take them on and help them get their story published?

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Always a good question. And there is a moving target as an answer. When we started six years ago, I opened an all-female publishing house, meaning we employed women and published women. Even the month that I did that, and we did it because I wanted more women's voices. And as a woman, I knew how easy it was to get hung up in the writing process and in the publishing process. And there just seemed like all these obstacles that I knew how to navigate, and I wanted to help more people navigate them so that there'd be more women's voices that we could all learn from. But even as I did that, I knew that there were other stories that were important, regardless of genitalia. And I've, you know, crudely say it, like I've never checked any of my authors, so I'm not gonna continue, like I'm not going to. So quickly we opened a second imprint, regardless of gender, which is how the men's mental health anthology came about. And we've worked with a number of men to to work on and tell their stories. So we have two, two imprints basically. And it's where does your story belong? Is is one of the questions once we answer that initial question, which is, are we a good fit? Some of the things that I ask in that in that process is, can I help you? Do you have a story that I'm excited about? And it's not the is it worth publishing, right? Because that's different. There's lots of great stories that are worth publishing, but am I excited about it? Can I help you with it? And are we a good fit? Because we talk about a book like a baby. And in the writing process, that means we're pregnant. Even men, they're pregnant with this idea that they're gestating something, they're growing something, they're building something. And then we have to bring it to the world. We have to give birth to it and then we raise it in the world. We don't just publish a book and then drop it like it's hot. You know, we need to be sharing about it. We need to be excited about it and care for it into the future. And so it's like entering a long-term relationship. And while I can, even if like it's a yes on two of the three, if we're not gonna get along together in a long-term relationship, I would, and this I'm doing more and more of now because so many people want to work with us, but I only I can only work well with a few people each year. Over the last seven or ten years, I've built relationships with lots of people in the industry. And so it's am I the best fit for you, or can I match make and introduce you to uh a book coach or a ghostwriter or a different publishing company that can help you accomplish your goals as well or better than I can. So every person who comes across my desk and every conversation I have, it's always like, how can I be of the most service? Let's bring your book to fruition. If that's with me, amazing. Let's go. If it's not with me, here are the next steps because it's still about getting the books into the world. We started with this mission of supporting 10,000 women to become successful published authors. That never meant that I wanted to publish 10,000 books. I don't, I don't want to populate a village with 10,000 babies. That's so much work. But we were just on another call. There were eight people, we were talking about the editing process. I'm helping those people move their book forward. And I don't have to be the midwife or, you know, any part of the actual publishing process to accomplish that goal of helping them get their book into the world.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah. No, that's it sounds like the right approach. It's very sounds like very similar as far as like how I approach books for guys. Obviously, it's books for guys, but it's not books for guys from guys. It's not, you know, it's really for everyone. There's just this emphasis I'm trying to encourage more men to read. Um, and it's getting it used to be asked a lot at the at the start of this. They'd be like, in this for guys, in this for guys, but I think like over half my guest are female at this point, which has been incredible. And so there's a lot of ladies that are like, dude, this is awesome. Like, this is like there's not this out there. We'd love to be a part of it. So it's been really cool, and then the guys love it. They'll female authors will be their favorite book they've read this year, you know. So it's just encouraging reading in general, but it's been pretty cool. Being able to explain that too has actually been a real joy on my side to uh to include both. It's just been it's been such amazing. But Sierra, how do you personally balance your time? Do you go through periods where because obviously you write too, you're passionate about that, you're passionate for help with helping people share their stories. Do you go through phases to where like how do you balance your personal interests in in your projects as well as others? It sounds like you try to keep the numbers low to where you're not overwhelmed with only working with other people so that you don't have time to write. But do you go through seasons, I guess, where one's heavier than the other?

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Well, and and like all passionate people, I am my own worst enemy. So, you know, I'm usually excited about more projects and more people than I should be handling in any particular, you know, calendar year or it takes three more months longer than whatever, whatever. Um, but I love the question and I love how you phrased it at the very end. Do you go through seasons? Because the answer is emphatically yes. And the book that I'm working on right now is about what I call the creative cycle. And it's based off of winter, spring, summer, fall. And we live in a world that I think treats us all like machines and it treats us, it expects us to show up like it's summer every day, regardless of our energy, regardless of what's going on outside, regardless of all the other things that we're going through. When we, as humans, I think we've disconnected from a seasonal, what used to be the agricultural cycle, and like you push hard and then you harvest and then you rest and then you anticipate and get ready for the next, you know, and that wisdom is in our DNA. It surrounds us, despite how we try to live outside of natural cycles, but it's applied to creativity. And so, you know, I put out my last book now three years ago, Typo, The Art of Imperfect Creation. And I had the idea for my next book already brewing. And I told myself, oh, I could just get this out in the next six months. It's been like two and a half years. I could have forced the cycle and been the machine. Um, but that would be super hypocritical. Critical to like be the machine writing about a creative cycle. And so really learning to give myself grace and take the time allows for the creative process to actually, that's where it becomes easy. If you're rested, fueled, enthusiastic, inspired, and prepared, then you'll go fine, right? I think of it sort of like a road trip. You do need to know where you're going. There needs to be gas in the tank. It's nice to have a map. If you just get in the car and keep driving, eventually you're either going to get lost and or you're going to run out of gas and your project won't come to fruition. You can't just stick banana peels in there or whatever. It's not going to keep going on an empty tank. And so this natural process of like we can't force it. Sometimes we you can force the rest. If I'm like, I'm trying to be creative and I'm not getting where I'm going. Oh, well, then maybe I need a nap, hike, you know, or an interesting conversation with another cool person because that's there's all this fuel. And when we find that, then we're like, oh, look at that, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

But the forcing through, I'm really working on undoing that part of culture.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Yeah. I don't think I've spoken with anyone who's like excelling at finding, like, there's that fine line between, like you kind of broke it down, like the aggressive patience, organized chaos. Like you have to have certain things that push you forward, but you've also got to let the creativity dictate the work because that writing is creative. You can't I've always found that fascinating with just you know big publishing companies and people who end up on contracts. I'm like, how do you know? Like, if you only got six months to put a book out there, like, how do you know that's gonna be your best? You know, what if what if you have to put something down because the timeline, but it's not what you really want to put down? And I'm sure that's a whole nother conversation. But again, it kind of goes back to that fine line of balance, but also pushing forward uh at the same time. And I think it sounds like everyone's always trying to figure that out and walk.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Because we do, we need a degree of pressure, yeah, right? And that's why winter doesn't last forever. If if it did, that would be bad. Same thing. Summer lasting forever would also be bad. And so we need the opposites. We need the pressure to get it done and the space to relax. And and this is where where I think it's actually very cool. I because I think of this creative process as masculine-feminine, right? We need the intellect, we need the pressure, we need the container, and then we need the fluidity and the freedom and the the feminine. If you commit fully to one or the other, you're never gonna get anywhere. You need to sort of dance between the two, which is one of the reasons it's it's fun having this conversation with you.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Sierra, I've got really just one more question for you. And I ask everyone the same question on this podcast. I'm always curious what people are interested in reading right now. But my question for you is what is a book or two that has meant a lot to you personally or professionally? And what's a book that you like to recommend to others? What's the book you've recommended the most to other people?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

All right. I have bought one book probably 15 times because I buy it for myself and then I give my copy away. And it's a book that I found open on the back of my grandmother's couch. And I just picked it up on whatever page it was open to and started reading. I specialize in nonfiction. This was a fiction book, and it was back in college. And I just, you know, I it was the middle of the book, and I was like, this is interesting. And I read to the end of the book from the middle, which is crazy, absolute crazy. So I knew what happened, and I was like, oh, I want to know how it starts. And so I last page, first page. And I've read this book a number of times, and it's from a Spanish writer, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and it's called The Shadow of the Wind. It is beautiful, it's set in Barcelona, and like the these A, like there's a couple of different storylines that play together. So it's, you know, historical fiction, it's about books, there's like the secret, you know, library, and there's some mystery and there's some romance. So I love that as a uh transportational experience. Um, so that's the book that I've probably shared with the most people in the world. So if if that is tempting to anybody, that's what I would recommend. But if you haven't read it since high school or pretended to read it in high school, I do really recommend Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It is short, it is brutal, and it is especially poignant in the modern era. So I would recommend that one for anyone who's trying to make sense of the world.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah. When you brought it up earlier, actually, I was like, I think it's time for me to reread that book. Because I remember the first time reading it. I remember just makes you think a lot. And now even more so. And I was like, I need to reread that book because I think I'm gonna have I don't know, it's just one that you need to read in this day and time, I feel like, just to see what's going on and maybe try and help change the path a little bit, maybe the direction we're going if we can.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

I think you're already there. You're you're doing it. We're both doing it. But reading a good dystopian novel will remind us why.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Yes. That that that was the point. Yeah. Everyone needs to probably read that. No, they need to read it. I probably read it. Everyone needs to read that book right now for sure.

unknown 27:19

Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah, this is this has been awesome. I yeah, I love every conversation. This is uh I again, like I say, we're gonna have plenty more as we've connected. It's been such a joy getting to know you and your story. I was laughing too. I was gonna say this earlier. I remember when I first looked at your LinkedIn and saw that you went to school in Vermont. My first thing was, how in the heck did she end up in Columbia? So different. But we went through all of that, and it and I've it's been such a joy getting to know you and and your business and the people you're working with, and thank you again for sending these books as we will have some giveaways to some of our listeners. And so it'll be such a it'll be awesome. It's my favorite part of doing this. But no, Sierra, thank you for taking the time to do this. Uh, before we get off, though, where can people find obviously we're gonna get all your books posted and we've got some of them already, but where can people directly find you or your books or all of what you're doing?

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Yeah, absolutely. You know, all the social platforms, but the places that I hang out the most and like to connect with people are LinkedIn. My name is Sierra Malker. That's why I have a personal and and red thread books, Red Thread Publishing on LinkedIn. But we also have a community for writers and authors. It's on the school platform. It's called Write Your Book. So if anybody who's interested in proving themselves wrong and seeing what it's like to actually write a book, the write, it's I guess it's just called Write Your Book on school. So that's where we actually hang out a lot and connect in community because the same reason you have this podcast is because we need humans need humans and more now than ever, I think.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Well, thank you, Sierra. This has been great.