Why Cookbooks May Be The Next Big Thing?
Solin will be accepting a select number of creators to help them create, design, publish, & distribute their cookbooks
One of the main ways fitness creators have added value and made money over time is through fitness programs & online coaching. If you scan the fitness industry, nearly every online trainer, creator, influencer seems to be selling a fitness program. As the space has continued to evolve over the years, it has gotten even more crowded. While this gives consumers many options, it also means it’s tougher to stand out from the crowd with your programs.
Here at Solin, a key focus is identifying new opportunities for creators to help them:
1. Create new revenue streams to make a living, fund their content (which can be expensive), and reach more people
2. Provide more value to their audience
3. Build stronger online communities
Market Research
Over the last several months of research, we’ve been fixated on what appears to be a huge gap in the market. While online training + physical activity is a big market, nutrition is even bigger. Based upon research from the Global Wellness Institute:
· Physical Activity represents a $738B global market annually
· Healthy Eating, Nutrition, & Weight Loss represents a $946B global market annually (28% larger than the Physical Activity segment)
While nutrition appears to be a bigger market with more opportunity, most influencers are focused on training programs & online coaching rather than cookbooks & nutrition.
To confirm this point, we did a random analysis of 100 fitness influencers with at least 40k Instagram followers as of July 27, 2022. The numbers were staggering:
· 56% (56 of 100) of the influencers offered at least one training program or online coaching
· 3% (3 of 100) of the influencers offered a cookbook
From here, we took our research a step further and looked at some anecdotal evidence to see if the opportunity for cookbooks is in fact as big as it seems.
Below are 2 anecdotes.
Anecdote 1: 100x sales on cookbook vs. training
In 2021, one of our creator partners with less than 100k followers launched a program on Solin — they sold ~40 programs on the platform over the course of a few months, generating ~$600 in total revenue.
A few months later, they proceeded to launch a cookbook and sold 2–3k programs, generating $65k+ in total revenue. The total proceeds of their cookbook were 100x greater than that of their training program.
Anecdote 2: Greg Doucette’s Anabolic Cookbook - $5.5 million of estimated earnings
We do not have specific figures on Greg Doucette’s Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook ($69) or his Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook 2.0 ($199), but we do know it’s been incredibly successful.
If you type “Greg Doucette Anabolic Cookbook” into Google, you’ll see tons of articles and forums reviewing his book. Some are good reviews, some are bad — but regardless, a lot of people are talking about it!
There are other reports he had 4,000+ reviews (source: Mogcast episode 41) on his first cookbook alone. Let’s assume that this number is accurate, and that 5% of people who purchased his book left a review — this would imply 80,000+ purchases of his book. The book currently retails for $69, meaning he would have made $5.52 million on his first cookbook alone by these estimates.
If you’re interested in more, here’s an entertaining YouTube video from Will Tennyson reviewing Greg’s second cookbook:
YouTube: Reviewing Greg Doucette’s ANABOLIC COOKBOOK 2.0 For A Day
Outside of these two specific examples, there is plenty of other anecdotal evidence to suggest the cookbook opportunity is massive, including surveys our creator partners have run with their audiences.
Announcing Our Strategic Cookbook Team
Today, we’re excited to formally announce our new strategic arm & in-house publishing team focused specifically on helping creators publish cookbooks. Our goal is to help a select number of creators launch incredibly successful cookbooks — reaching tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people with each book.
Here are five key things our publishing team will help with:
1. Content strategy— we’ll help set up a structure that makes it easy for you to create the recipes & other info that goes into your cookbook
2. Cover & book design — we have a dedicated design team to help you take the right photos & create a theme to make your designs ‘pop’
3. Full-scale marketing strategy — this includes setting up pre-orders, securing brand sponsors, establishing text messaging & email marketing funnels, paid marketing channels, and expanding reach through newsletters & articles from our media partners
4. Sales copywriting & landing page design — it is important to optimize your sales page for conversion with great design assets & a story around your cookbook
5. Print publishing & distribution — includes paperback publishing, hardcover, and Amazon Kindle
How to Get in Touch
If you’d be interested in working with our publishing team, please feel free to schedule a call here: Solin Cookbook Strategy Call
As always, if you have any questions or would like to get in touch more generally — feel free to reach us at creators@solinfitness.com. We’d love to hear from you!
