Exciting New Capabilities for Solin's Cookbook Strategy Team

This post is an update to our post from March 2023 announcing our Cookbook Strategy Team. You can find an abridged version of the previous post from March 2023 at the bottom of this page.

In March 2023, we initially launched our cookbook strategy team to help creators launch cookbooks. It's been a fun ride for the past 15+ months, launching 55+ cookbooks with many incredibly talented creators.

While it's been an absolute blast for us, we also uncovered some challenges with launching & publishing cookbooks. Three of the biggest ones being:

1. It's a large upfront time commitment
2. It's difficult to edit / add to existing books
3. The business model is not flexible for the creator (e.g., you can't build a recurring revenue stream, physical books require inventory risk, etc.).

Based on learnings from these 55+ launches and specific feedback from our creators, we set out to build the future of digital cookbooks for creators.

After months of research, testing, & development, we are thrilled to announce a groundbreaking enhancement to our Cookbook Strategy Team that will revolutionize how creators launch their digital cookbooks, using our proprietary new digital cookbook technology.

With this release, creators can now develop and release their own dynamic, living, and breathing digital cookbooks in just a matter of hours. This is a significant leap from the months-long process it used to take.

This new capability allows creators to swiftly and efficiently bring their culinary visions to life, engaging with their audience in real-time and updating their content effortlessly. Our advanced digital publishing platform streamlines the entire process, from recipe creation and design to marketing and sales.

With our latest tools, you can now:

1. Instantly Create and Publish: Use our intuitive platform to design, format, and publish your cookbook digitally in hours, not months.
2. Seamlessly Update Content: Easily make updates or add new recipes, ensuring your audience always has access to fresh and relevant content.
3. Interactive Features: Integrate multimedia elements like videos, interactive shopping lists, and step-by-step cooking guides to enhance the user experience.
4. Real-Time Analytics: Gain insights into your cookbook's performance with real-time analytics, allowing you to tailor your content to your audience's preferences.
5. Automated Marketing Tools: Leverage our automated marketing tools to reach a wider audience and maximize your sales potential.

This innovation marks a new era for our creators, enabling them to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving digital landscape. We believe this will not only help you connect more deeply with your audience but also significantly boost your revenue streams.

For more information or to get started with your own digital cookbook, please email cookbooks@solinfitness.com with subject line: COOKBOOK for expedited account access. We're excited to see the incredible cookbooks you'll create!

Solin Cookbook Strategy Team [Abridged Announcement Post From March 2023 - Link to Original Post Here]

Solin is expanding its cookbook strategy team to help more creators design, publish, & distribute their own cookbooks & detailed nutrition guides

One of the main ways health & lifestyle creators have added value and made money is through fitness programs & online coaching. If you scan the industry, nearly every online creator or influencer seems to be selling a fitness program.

As the space has continued to evolve over the years, it has gotten more crowded. While this gives consumers many options, it also means it’s tougher to stand out from the crowd.

At Solin, a key focus is identifying new opportunities for creators to help them:

1. Provide more value to their audience

2. Build stronger online communities

3. Create new revenue streams to make a living, fund content creation, and reach more people

Market Research

Over the last 9 months of research, we’ve discovered a big opportunity with cookbooks. 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 is the bigger market, most creators are focused on training programs & online coaching rather than cookbooks & nutrition.

To confirm this point, we did a random analysis of 100 fitness creators with at least 40k Instagram followers as of July 27, 2022. The numbers were interesting:

· 56% (56 of 100) of the creators offered at least one training program or online coaching

· 3% (3 of 100) of the creators offered a cookbook

We then took our research a step further and looked at some other evidence to see if the opportunity for cookbooks is in fact as big as it seems.

Below are 2 case studies.

Case study 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.

Case study 2: Greg Doucette’s Anabolic Cookbook - $5.5 million of estimated earnings

There are no specific figures on Greg Doucette’s Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook ($69) or his Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook 2.0 ($199), but it does seem like it has 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.

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

Six months ago, we formally announced our new strategic arm & in-house publishing team focused specifically on helping creators publish cookbooks & nutrition guides.

Our goal is to help top 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 helps with:

1. Recipe & content creation — we’ll help set up a structure that makes it easy for you to create the recipes & other info that goes into your cookbook. Then our team will design everything and fill out any details you don't have time for. For example, our team can help you create recipes, get pictures of your recipes, add macronutrient details (calories / g Protein / etc.), & more. Below is an example recipe our team helped create:

2. Cover & book design — we have a dedicated design team to help you create a theme and branding to make your designs ‘pop.’ Below is an example of a cover our team created (tap the photo to go to the sales page for the cookbook):

3. 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

If you want to check out some examples of books we've launched with partners, you can check a few out below (tap the photo to go to the sales page for the cookbook)

How to Get in Touch

If you’d be interested in working with our publishing team, please feel free to email cookbooks@solinfitness.com with subject: COOKBOOK for expedited account access. We're excited to see the incredible cookbooks you'll create!