There’s a joke among book authors: At least one person at any party will tell you they, too, want to be a published author … if only they had the time to do it.
Writers laugh at this because creating a book and successfully bringing it to market requires far more than finding time to sit in front of a computer. For one thing, publishers want to know if you have a platform. Without it, your book idea could be a hard sell.
Platform: What It Is, and Why You Need It
Platform means you’re already recognizable and people are familiar with what you do, usually thanks to the publicity you get or because you’re killing it on social media.
You don’t have to be Hollywood famous, but you do need a circle of influence and a proven track record for being able to promote yourself.
Can you boast a strong client following or Insta audience? Have you created a fitness program or brand that’s a big buzz? Do you get plenty of publicity? All this and more amounts to platform.
My former NYC-based book editor once told me that people commonly think anyone can get a book published if their idea is good enough. Not so, she said. In reality, publishers still want fitness experts with platform. Without it, your book idea would have to really be the bomb. (Seriously, you’d have to dig deeper than the usual “get fit, stay healthy” concept.)
DIY Health and Fitness Book Publishing
One way around traditional publishers is to create ebooks and/or self-publish your own. You’ll bolster your bragging rights because you can call yourself a book author, but you might not make a ton of money unless your idea is quite specialized in the health and fitness space.
Another benefit: Self-publishing could eventually boost your platform enough to snag an actual book deal. Self-published fitness authors do sometimes attract a publisher’s attention if they sell enough copies of the self-published book and have a large enough audience.
Here’s how to amp up your platform as a health/fitness writer, blogger and expert: How to Write Winning Queries.
