5 Examples of Health and Wellness Books to Inspire You
Traditionally, when most people think of self-publishing, they think of aspiring authors and writers toiling away at building an audience to read their novels. While that certainly isn’t an inaccurate image, it’s not the complete picture of self-publishing. In fact, many self-published books—maybe even the majority of self-published books—are written and published by entrepreneurs and creators.
If you’re here as a content creator or small business owner looking for ways that you can monetize and support your health & fitness brand by publishing a book, then you’re in the right spot. And hey, if you’re a content creator or small business owner looking for ways that you can monetize your audience and support your health & fitness brand, but you’re really not convinced that the ideal product for you is a book… stick around, maybe I can change your mind.
Let’s look at five different ideas for books you could create and sell to help monetize your audience, promote your brand, and level up your business. We’ll also include examples from some of our Lulu authors, and resources to help you get started!
Book Idea #1: Cookbook
POV: You’re a recipe blogger, an Instagram foodie, a nutritionist with a great YouTube following. Or maybe you’re none of those things—maybe you’re a hot sauce connoisseur looking to expand your product line. Maybe you’re a personal trainer who’s considering sharing a 30-day meal plan for optimal gains. Maybe you’re a TikTok influencer teaching your peers how to cook something other than ramen in your dorm microwave. Or maybe you’re a long-trip sailing enthusiast or van-lifer who often gets asked how you keep your meals fresh and healthy in your small kitchen spaces.
I could keep going, but I think the point is already there—there are so many brands, content creators, or influencers that could monetize their existing platform by publishing a cookbook! In fact, check out these two examples straight off the Lulu presses:
Dr. Becky’s Family Favorites Cookbooks
Dr. Becky Gillaspy is a health consultant, professional teacher, and author (among many other things) with her own fitness practice and a robust YouTube account where she shares her expertise. Dr. Becky monetized her brand further by publishing a cookbook with her family’s favorite healthy and nutritious recipes for her fans and followers to buy and reference! As she says:
Having delicious and satisfying low-carb recipes at our fingertips has been my family’s secret to easy, enjoyable, and effective weight control. Through Lulu, I was able to self-publish a collection of my favorite recipes and share them with my audience.
Learn more about Dr. Becky’s Family Favorites Cookbook.
Feeling inspired? Check out this blog post for tips and tricks to get your cookbook formatting just right, or visit our website to learn more about how to create your own cookbook today!
Book Idea #2: Memoir
Sometimes inspiration doesn’t come in the form of a fitness guide or a collection of recipes, but from hearing somebody else’s story. And let’s be real here—your audience is already following you because they are, at least to some extent, interested in your story. Maybe it’s your journey about how you got to be where you are today, or what originally inspired you to share your expertise with strangers on the internet, or something else entirely. Whatever brings followers to your channel, you already have a group of people interested in hearing what you have to say.
So share your story with them! Write your memoir, if you’re feeling bold. Dip your toe in the water with a shorter essay collection if the prospect of an entire memoir sounds daunting. Hey, you don’t even have to write a whole book—write up 20-50 motivational quotes, one-liners, words that inspire you, etc., etc., slap them on a pretty background in Canva, and publish a little pocket collection of aphorisms.
How I Became the Fittest Woman on Earth
Tia-Clair Toomey has back-to-back titles (to-back-to-back-to-back—she’s won five consecutive times!) in the CrossFit® Games, successfully making a name for herself as the Fittest Woman on Earth. So… how’d she do it? Find out for yourself! Tia-Clair shares her story and inspires fans around the world in How I Became the Fittest Woman On Earth.
Learn more about Tia-Clair Toomey and How I Became the Fittest Woman on Earth on her website (powered by Lulu Direct!).
Thinking about how you can share your story? We have the resources to help you get started! Learn the basics of how to create and print a book in this blog post, review some of our tips for writing nonfiction in this blog post, or visit our website to learn more about how to get started with your book!
Book Idea #3: Fitness Guide
There are so many incredible and empowering creators sharing educational videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and even Pinterest, but those aren’t the only places you can share fitness how-to guides! Team up with a photographer (or a friend who knows how to use a tripod and an iPhone!) to put together a photo book with step-by-step guides to different workouts, yoga poses, etc.
Fitness guides can be great resources for educators making use of virtual workshops or online classes! Create a supplemental workout guidebook so that your students can follow along with your live video content at their own pace, while also monetizing your video content.
The Aerial Sling Manual Volume 1
Lulu Author Rebekah Leach is an avid aerial dancer, teacher, founder of AerialWorks LLC, and the creator of the Born to Fly Curriculum. She uses workbooks and guided fitness books to help share her expertise with students around the world and has published 13 books (and counting!) on aerial yoga, aerial fabric, hoop, sling, and rope.
See how Rebekah has maximized and monetized her fitness courses by selling her books on the Lulu Bookstore.
Curious about making your own workout book or fitness guide? We recommend using our photo book format! Learn more about how to set up a photo book interior file in this blog post, or visit our website for more tips and templates for creating your photo book today:
Book Idea #4: Fitness Journal or Meal Planner
So far, you might read all of this and think “That sounds like a lot of writing.” And you would be right! So far, all the projects I’ve suggested involve a reasonable amount of writing. But what if I told you that you could get away with publishing and selling a book without writing a single word?
No/Low content books like notebooks, journals, and planners are some of our most popular content, and they’re particularly useful for health & wellness purposes! The interior pages are super easy to make, and you can maximize your product offerings by creating a few different versions of the same notebook with different covers.
What kind of notebooks or journals could you sell? The possibilities are endless! Create a meal planning notebook, a recipe journal, a diet and weight-loss tracker, a fitness tracker, a workout log book, a yoga journal, a meditation journal, a hiking trail log book, a habit tracker, a motivational bullet journal…
For example, take a look at a few of these health and wellness journals published by Lulu creators:
Daily Habits Tracker
Want to help your fans build new healthy habits (and break their bad ones)? Consider a daily habit tracker like this one from M. Bella! The general, customizable interior makes a planner like this one useful for a broad audience of buyers, and it’s simple to design just one page, duplicate it 100 times, and put a variety of covers on it.
My Fitness Log
If you’re a fitness enthusiast, or your fans and followers are following you for workout guides and fitness content, create a workout log for them! Leave the interior customizable so they can fill in their own workout plans, or design it to match your specific videos or courses so they can easily track their own progress through your routines.
As an added bonus, bundle your workout log with a fitness guide! Double the products, double the profits!
Learn more about My Fitness Log from Zupaflex (with two different cover versions—like I said, it’s a great way to maximize your product offerings!) in the Lulu Bookstore.
Living a Healthy Lifestyle: Food and Fitness Journal for Weight Loss
Whether you’re a food blogger, a clean or healthy eating coach, a dietician or nutritionist, or a fitness guru, chances are good you and your followers are familiar with the benefits of using a meal planner to plan and track their meals.
Create a meal planner to help your followers keep track of their plans and progress. Bonus tip; customize the content by inserting a few of your own tips, recipes, shopping lists, or whatever details best promote your brand. You’ll still be creating an easy, low-lift project to share with your audience, but the extra details add a layer of authority to your brand and your product!
Ready to make your own planner or journal? We have a few different blog posts to help you get started, like this post on How to Make a DIY Planner or this one with 8 Ideas to Create a Notebook Today. You can also visit our Create pages to find more instructions on how to create your no/low content book, including free downloadable templates for those interiors!
Book Idea #5: Books for Young Readers!
Inspiration for all, even the youngest readers! Yay! Running books and nature books and playing outside books and whatever. Go nuts!
Bear Foot
Author, illustrator, and endurance runner Richard Jansen channeled his own love of running and his support of minimalist and barefoot-style running shoes into this fun picture book! Promote your brand, share your story, and inspire the next generation to practice healthy habits with a fun and uplifting picture book like Bear Foot.
Views From the Court
Lulu Authors Bri Berne-Artis & Ron Artis share their love of tennis and their enthusiasm for the exciting things you’ll do and see while playing tennis in their sweet picture book Views From the Court. Your health & fitness picture book doesn’t have to teach kids how to play, it can simply inspire and share the things you love that you think they’ll love too!
Want to learn more about creating your own children’s book? This blog post has some great resources, tips, and tricks! Or, if you prefer learning from video content, check out this episode of Lulu University on Self-Publishing Your Children’s Book. Visit our website to learn more about how to get started (and get inspired by a few of our favorite children’s books from the Lulu Bookstore):
Feeling inspired? There are so many amazing ways you can create something empowering, educational, and uniquely you. There’s no better time than right now to get started.
