About Me

Brad Wetzler is an author, journalist, podcaster, and yoga + mindfulness teacher, and writing mentor. He writes books (and articles) and hosts a podcast about adventure healing, emotional wellness, and faith & spirituality. His memoir, “Into the Soul of the World,” will be published in 2023.

About Me

Brad Wetzler

I began my career as an editor and adventure-travel writer.  I served as a senior editor at Outside magazine, and I was a contributing editor at Outside, National Geographic Adventure,  and George magazines. I have written hundreds of articles and essays on far-ranging topics for

    • The New YorkTimes (Magazine, Book Review, Op-Ed page, and Travel section)
    • Newsweek 
    • GQ 
    • Forbes 
    • Wired 
    • National Geographic 
    • Yoga Journal
    • Men’s Journal 
    • Travel + Leisure 
    • Outside and 
    • George, among others.

My book, Real Mosquitoes Don’t Eat Meat, is a collection of Wild File columns that originally appeared in Outside.

Assignments have taken me around the world, including to Russia, Palestine, Israel, Greenland, Brazil’s Amazon, Indonesia, India, Scandinavia, Turkey, Greece, the Canadian Arctic, Jamaica and the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and to many of the United States wildest places. I’ve interviewed politicians on Capitol Hill, presidential candidates on the campaign trail, professional athletes in locker rooms. I’ve lived with hobos in the forests of the Czech Republic. I’ve broken bread with cult leaders and false messiahs in Jerusalem. I’ve written about the Russian and American space programs from inside Star City, the Russian Space Agency, and I drank vodka shots with cosmonauts.  I’ve tailed explorers along coastal Greenland.

My writing has been anthologized in Best American Travel Writing and Outside 25: The Best of Outside Magazine’s First 25 Years. I write about travel and adventure, wellness, yoga, personal growth, and spirituality. I coach up-and-coming writers to write books and articles. My clients write with more power and grace and publish books that change readers’ lives. I’m also a certified yoga teacher. I bring a mindful approach to my work with clients based in yogic ideals of honesty, respect, and kindness. 

I began my writing and publishing career serving as an editor at Outside magazine, where I worked with some of America’s finest nonfiction writers, including Jon Krakauer, Peter Matthiessen, Mike Paterniti, Daniel Coyle, Hampton Sides, and others.  In 1997, I turned in my editor’s pen for a writer’s. I traveled the world writing about adventure and exploration, business, politics, the environment,  sports, yoga, and wellness. My articles and essays have been published in The New York Times (Magazine, Book Review, Op-Ed page, and Travel section), Newsweek, GQ, Forbes, Wired, National Geographic, Yoga Journal, Men’s Journal, Travel + Leisure, Outside, and George, among others. 

In the pursuit of stories to tell readers, I rode the bus with presidential candidates,  interviewed spiritual gurus in India and Messiahs in Jerusalem,  played polo with tech billionaires in India, drank vodka with cosmonauts and astronauts in Moscow, and broke bread with cult leaders. I traveled up the Amazon River, tailed explorers in Greenland, and surfed with Christian surfer/missionaries in Indonesia. I hiked in Jesus’ footsteps in Israel and road-tripped across Palestine. I road trains with hobos in the Czech Republic. I interviewed celebrities, scientists, politicians, professional athletes, explorers, and anarchists.  I wrote  Outside magazine’s popular monthly “Wild File” column. I penned a monthly Adventure column for Universal Press Syndicate. 

I taught writing as a professor of English at the College of Santa Fe. I taught memoir to students of the Book Project at Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop. I hold a masters in journalism (writing and publishing) from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.  

In midlife, after recovering from a long, debilitating depression, I reconnected with yoga, which I first studied in the early 1990s.  Yoga led me inward. I became a certified yoga teacher and began exploring and writing about our inner landscape: psychology, spirituality, meditation, and yoga.  I’m writing a memoir about how travel and yoga led me to a new understanding of the word faith.

I teach online yoga classes. I speak to audiences about the power of yoga and mindfulness practices to transform lives.  Email me to book a private yoga lesson or a speaking engagement. 

In my free time, I hiking with my dog, Tommy, practicing yoga, and drinking coffee with friends near my home in Austin, Texas.

As your book writing coach or professional book editor, I will help you write, finish, and publish your memoir or nonfiction book. Let me be your guide, brainstorming partner, creative muse, accountability keeper, editor, publishing consultant, and lead cheerleader. Let me help you write and publish the book that’s inside you. Together, let’s breathe life into your ideas, write your book, and transform your life. 

As an experienced book writing coach and professional editor, I help aspiring authors of all abilities and experience write and publish the book of their dreams. Whether your book is a memoir, nonfiction “big ideas” book about the lessons you’ve learned in life or business, or a novel, I can help you. Under my guidance, you’ll stop procrastinating, make progress, and finally write and publish the book that’s inside you, aching to be birthed. 

Let’s get started today! Step number one is to send me an email telling me about your book idea. I’ll write you back, and we’ll set up a free 30-minute author consult. I want to hear about the book you desire to write. I want to hear about what has held you back from finishing on your own.  And then I’ll tell you more about my  coaching system that all but guarantees you’ll get your book written and published in three to six months. Finally, once you decide to invest in your future as an author, we’ll schedule our first meeting, and the work (and fun!) begins! Flash forward, six months, and, voila, you are a published author. 

Why Work with Me?

I have more than two decades of experience at the highest levels of publishing. I am an author, award-winning editor, journalist, and experienced book writing coach. My team and I help thought leaders, positive change-makers, wellness professionals, psychotherapists, and everyday people like you write and publish books that transform people’s lives. When my clients publish their books, they get more leads, more income, and more opportunities to impact the world.

When you work with us to write and publish your book, you too benefit from my vast experience in writing, editing, and publishing. We know the best strategies, techniques, and tools to help aspiring authors write and publish their books. My team and I are ready to share my hard-won knowledge and wisdom with you. 

My clients write and publish books that change people’s lives.  

Unlike other book writing resources, we have decades of real-world experience in the writing, editing, and publishing industries. I, myself, have worn many hats in the writing and publishing industry. I know how to think like an editor and a writer. You’ll benefit from my knowledge and wisdom and from my strong connections to agents, editors, and publishers. Whether you’re new to writing and publishing or a longtime pro, I’ll guide you you from first sentence to completed book. I can help you land an agent and publisher or self-publish. 

A little more about me: My book Real Mosquitoes Don’t Eat Meat is a compilation of columns I wrote for Outside magazine, was published by W.W. Norton’s Countryman Press. I’ve published long form nonfiction articles and essays in dozens of major national publications, and my writing has been anthologized many times.

I began my career as a magazine editor. By age 30, I was a senior editor at Outside magazine. While on staff, I edited and coached some of America’s finest writers. I conceived, assigned, and edited “Into Thin Air,” the long form article by Jon Krakauer that was expanded into the book of the same title. I left the magazine in 1997 to become a freelance magazine journalist and travel writer. I wrote regularly for America’s top publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, GQ, Wired, Travel + Leisure, and others. I traveled the world on assignment. 

I covered adventure, politics, the environment, culture, and sport. I served as contributing writer for Outside, National Geographic Adventure, and George magazines. Today, I’m passionate about writing about personal growth and wellness, spirituality, travel, and yoga. My writing has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing series, Outside 25: The Best of Outside Magazine’s First 25 Years, and Traveller’s Tales.

My background in editing, writing, and publishing inform my mindful but competitive approach to book writing coaching. I help New York Times Best-Selling authors, thought leaders, business and spiritual leaders, psychotherapists, and up-and-coming authors like you write and publish books that change the world. I am fueled by my love for storytelling and turning clients’ big ideas into engaging prose that inspires readers to act, grow, and change.

As an editor, I worked directly with some of America’s finest nonfiction writers, such as John Krakauer, Chip Brown, and Ian Frazier. I stay apprised of the latest in article- and book-publishing trends, and I have a broad network of writing and publishing contacts, including book publishers, editors, and literary agents. A part-time yoga teacher and world traveler, I bring a deep understanding of mindfulness, and employ mindfulness and self-compassion tools into coaching my clients.

I am an evangelist for a self-compassionate approach to writing and creativity. When our lives are in balance, our true creative selves can emerge and thrive. My writing has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, National Geographic, GQ, Wired, Yoga Journal, Men’s Journal, Travel + Leisure, Outside, and other publications. I hold a masters’ degree in Writing and Publishing from Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism.

I’d love to help you realize your dream of writing and publishing your book!

Work With Brad

Advance Praise for Brad Wetzler's

INTO THE SOUL OF THE WORLD: My Journey to Healing. My Decade-Long, Round-the-World Quest to Overcome Drug Addiction and Cope with Trauma

In the age of toxic masculinity and “mansplaining;” in a country in which most violent crimes are committed by men, Brad Wetzler’s Into the Soul of the World offers a powerful, profound, and deeply personal road map for actively cultivating a different kind of manhood. As a young journalist in the 90s, Wetzler had it all: an amazing, enviable job as a travel and adventure journalist that sent him all over the world on assignments; a home in beautiful Santa Fe; a loving marriage. At the height of magazine journalism, Wetzler’s passport was littered with stamps, and he edited and wrote features for high-profile magazines like the New York Times, George, National Geographic, and many others. He commissioned Jon Krakauer’s piece about the lost climbers of Mt. Everest that later became the international bestselling book and hit movie, Into Thin Air.

But then the demons and trauma from his childhood caught up with him, and he sunk into a depression that increasing amounts of prescription drugs could not solve, and soon found himself divorced, essentially house-bound, and physically unhealthy.

He hit rock bottom when a friend – who was on a similar cocktail of medications — died by suicide. Into the Soul of the World traces his road to recovery, from a checkpoint in Palestine to the cave of a 100-year-old yogi in India. He kicks the drugs, finds yoga, moves to Colorado, and learns — through the love of friends, animals, and a hard-won spiritual awakening that can’t be put into any particular dogmatic box — to be a man that is not celebrated often enough. A man of wisdom, kindness, insight, tenderness, and sensitivity.

Through energetic and lively prose, Wetzler takes us inside the heart and mind of a man who refuses to conform to society’s restrictive notion of manhood, and instead presents a new path for men to walk. This is not an easy path, Wetzler is clear, but we’ve never needed it more.”

– Emily Rapp Black

author of The Still Point of the Turning World and Sanctuary.

–Mark Adams Author of Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000 mile journey around
the Last Great American Frontier.

I've followed Brad Wetzler's travels around the globe with envy and admiration for more than two decades. From what I've read, Into the Soul of the World promises to be his most fascinating journey yet.

    –Daniel Coyle Author of The Talent Code, Lance Armstrong's War, Hardball,
    and others.

    Brad Wetzler is one of the best adventure writers I know. Now he's taking us on one of the biggest adventures of all -- a journey into the deepest reaches of his own life -- and I could not be more eager to see where it leads.

      –Hampton Sides Author of Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, Hellhound on His Trail, and others

      As a far-flung journalist and celebrated editor, Brad Wetzler has led the very definition of an adventurous life, but in Into the Soul of the World he'll give an unflinching account of his interior adventures. Wetzler’s soulful quest, by turns anguished and transcendent, will resonate with readers around the world who struggle to find purpose and a sense of the holy in the ambient jitter of the digital age.

        Watch Brad's YouTube Interviews with Writers, Poets, and Editors

        Conversations with important and emerging American voices

        As avid readers of his immensely popular Outside magazine column can attest, Brad Wetzler is a man equally at home with the inane, the profane, and the arcane. Equipped with an omnidirectional curiosity and a sly sense of humor, in “Real Mosquitoes Don’t Eat Meat,” Brad Wetzler reaffirms a truth we all understood as kids–that when it comes to the natural world, there is no such thing as a ‘dumb question.’

        Hampton Sides

        Author of Ghost Soldiers and Americana
        and Outside Magazine Editor-at-Large

        Brad Wetzler is an author and memoir writing coach. Make this the year you complete your memoir. Download the free "How to Tell a Great Story" e-book and schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.

        Get Your FREE eBook

        Live A Great Story and Get My Free "How to Tell A Great Story" eBook

        Brad Wetzler is an author and memoir writing coach. Make this the year you complete your memoir. Download the free "How to Tell a Great Story" e-book and schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.

        Get Your FREE eBook

        Live A Great Story and Get My Free "How to Tell A Great Story" eBook