Lighten Up!

Americans are, let's be honest, hefty. According to the Centers for Disease Control, obesity among adults has increased from 15% (in the 1976—1980 survey) to 32.9% (in the 2003—2004 survey). The latest numbers from the American Heart Association show that 72 million men and 68 million women are overweight or obese.

Not surprisingly, as America's waistlines expand, so does the market for diet and fitness books. In fact, for more than 30 years, titles in this category have regularly appeared on PW's year-end top 10 bestseller lists. In the '70s, it was Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution and Total Fitness in 30 Minutes a Week. In the 1980s, Jane Fonda's Workout Book and The Beverly Hills Diet were iconic. The '90s brought The Zone. Hot titles in 2000 included Dr. Atkins' Age-Defying Diet Revolution, with sales of nearly 400,000, and Ballantine's Sugar Busters!, which sold 2.2 million copies and stayed on PW's list for a whopping 99 weeks. This year, Kevin Trudeau's The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don't Want You to Know About spent 18 weeks on PW's nonfiction chart.

Clearly, diet and fitness books are big business, and competition for readers is intense. So what makes a diet or fitness title stand out in today's market? The usual combination for self-help books: a sensible approach with a new twist from someone with a platform. Says Liz Perl, Rodale publisher: “People are better educated these days and are looking for more than 'lose five pounds in five minutes.' ” She says the latest trend “is to look at diet and fitness as life-long programs for wellness.” Customization, she says, is also key these days—“not one-size-fits-all, but alternatives for a variety of lifestyles.” Wiley executive editor Tom Millers cuts to the chase: “There has to be a good hook and a promotable author. Unless a book has a hook that seems new and different, it won't break out. And, of course, the author has to be mediagenic—we always ask agents for DVDs or tapes with their proposals.”

Platform, Platform, Who's Got the Platform?

When it comes to the best platform for selling a diet or fitness book, you generally need look no further than your 50-in. plasma TV. “One appearance on a major show can make or break a book,” says Sterling publisher Charlie Nurnberg. Free Press editorial director Dominick Anfuso says he dreams of seeing his authors chatting on the morning shows, Oprah or The View, but he also sees a “huge rebound for PBS,” which he says is back as a major bookseller—“particularly the specialty shows that appear during fundraising.”

While being a guest on a top-rated TV show may well result in a sales boost, being a familiar TV face is even better. “Fitness books are celebrity driven,” says Wiley's Miller, “and national TV experience is the most important credential.” One case in point is Wiley's The 30-Minute Celebrity Makeover Miracle (Jan.) by Weekend Today fitness expert Steve Zim, whose roster of buff clients includes Jessica Biel. Training some of the most famous bodies on TV or in the movies is also a ticket to success. Kacy Duke's clients have included Denzel Washington, Julianne Moore and Iman, a big plus when it comes to promoting her The Show It Love Workout (McGraw-Hill, Nov.), says consumer books publisher Judith McCarthy.

An original, safe and effective program is first and foremost for Rodale's Perl, who notes that the company will often put test subjects on the diet programs to evaluate their effectiveness. “And the author needs to have strong and appropriate credentials. Television presence is, of course, ideal, and Web presence is becoming increasingly important as well.”

Can there be a more prestigious platform—in this case, literally—than being an Olympic medal-winner? This season, three Olympic champions show the rest of us how it's done. Eric Heiden, who won five gold medals in speed skating, has partnered with Massimo Testa, a team physician for the U.S. Olympic Cycling team, for Faster, Better, Stronger (HarperCollins, May). This title, says publisher of Lifestyle/Wellness Mary Ellen O'Neill, is aimed at “an audience that's already pretty fit that want to train for longer distances or faster times—and even better health.” Gold Medal—winning swimmer, Megan Quann Jendrick, and her trainer husband, Nathan, promise that even the non-athletic can have a long, lean swimmer's body by following the program in Get Wet, Get Fit (Fireside, Jan.), which includes a diet plan, recipes and dry land workouts. Run Your First Marathon (Sterling, Nov.) by silver medalist and nine-time New York City Marathon winner Grete Waitz even includes a special program for runners over 40.

Of course, if enough people want to do something—as with a hot trend or a fad—sheer numbers can be enough. NAL editorial director Claire Zion points out that 18 million American women cycle regularly. “People used to buy fitness books because they wanted to lose weight. Now they buy them because they want to be athletes, she adds. Bicycling magazine's “Fit Chick” columnist, Selene Yeager's Every Woman's Guide to Cycling (Mar.) is “the only woman-specific” comprehensive book on the sport. Runners are an even bigger group across gender. According to RunningUSA.org, 8.5 million people finished sanctioned road races in the U.S. last year; the number of noncompetitive runners is no doubt much larger. NAL's Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald aims to give serious and casual runners the right mental approach to pounding the pavement and improving your health.

Fixtures on the Scene

Platforms and franchises, however much coveted by publishers, are not the end of the story. Yes, it can be a daunting challenge to find an author with a platform or to develop a franchise around a plan or practitioner, but keeping and expanding the audience for an established heavy hitters is equally formidable.

Says Rodale's Perl, “Each book must address the real and specific needs of the audience and build toward creating a suite of books that address those needs.” Using the example of a notably successful franchise—The South Beach Diet, published in 2002—Perl explains that programs must be reviewed to make sure that the advice is as up-to-date as possible. The South Beach Diet Supercharged (Apr.), she says, “will introduce a host of new information, tips and methods for faster weight loss.” Continuous media presence is also key, adds Perl—“There must be ongoing support for the franchise, not one-off campaigns for each new release.”

Oprah's favorite medicos, Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen, are adding a fourth entry to their megaselling “You” family: You: Staying Young is out this month from the Free Press. Anfuso says, “We're trying to extend the audience by making a real push for public radio—audiences not always associated with self-help books. And all our focus works toward promoting them as who they really are—healers.”

One of the longest-lived franchises—40 years and counting—is also gaining a new title: Weight Watchers Start Living, Start Losing (Wiley, Jan.) offers weight-loss success stories from everyday folks as well as such celebs as the Duchess of York and Jenny McCarthy. “When working with a partner like Weight Watchers,” says Miller, “we look closely at what their members want and what they need today. In short, we provide new content from long-established franchises delivered to the audience in a trusted voice.”

Dr. Dean Ornish, a mainstay of the diet/health scene for more than two decades, returns with The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health (Ballantine, Jan.), his first book in 15 years to include an eating plan. One way to create a successful franchise in today's market, says executive editor Caroline Sutton, “is starting with a mother ship and creating a fleet of smaller ships to sail around it. The Spectrum features plans that target specific areas of reader concern, like losing weight, lowering cholesterol, fighting cancer. Any one of these sections could be expanded into a new, larger book.”

Rivaling Ornish for longevity is Kathy Smith, who produced her first fitness video in 1984. Since then, she's sold 16 million workout videos, $50 million in infomercial products and has more than 400,000 copies of her books in print. What's even more surprising is that Smith had never written a diet book. When Meredith received the proposal for her Feed Muscle, Shrink Fat Diet, says editor-in-chief Greg Kayko, “we saw it as a great way to expand her audience. We were also really captured by the diet itself and its broad base of appeal—it works for ages 18 to 80.”

Still another mainstay on the fitness scene—and a first-time author—is Margaret Richard, whose Body Electric has aired on PBS stations nationwide for more than 20 years. Her book, Body Electric (McGraw-Hill, Apr.), says McCarthy, “is aimed at women over 40 who want to keep looking and feeling as great as Margaret does.” And McCarthy notes that TV audiences are sure to support Richard's print debut—“when a few PBS stations have tried to drop her show over the years, viewers were so outraged they forced the stations to take her back. That's the kind of fierce loyalty we love to see!”

Tarcher confronts a unique challenge with Julia Cameron's newest book, The Writing Diet (Jan.). Will the audience who made her creativity titles (The Artist's Way) perennials on bestseller lists be interested in Cameron's belief that by unlocking your creativity, you can take off the pounds? That instead of turning to food when we're unhappy, bored or frustrated, we can instead explore those feelings in a positive way by writing? No problem, says senior editor Sara Carder. “We see two audiences for this book—Julia's core creativity audience, many of whom may never before have bought a diet book, and diet book buyers, who take an intellectual psychological view of weight loss.”

Working Without a Net

So what are the odds of a book without a strong platform—a TV show, celebrity clients, that magic something—making it onto the shelves? “It can happen,” says Anfuso at the Free Press, “but not very often. We've spent a lot of money on advertising for books that no one bought—it has to capture an audience's imagination and those don't come around often.” Lack of a platform, says Wiley's Miller, “certainly makes it tougher. That said, one appearance on a major national TV show or coverage in a major print publication can snowball and eventually spark bestseller level sales.” Ballantine's Sutton agrees that a big break can change the future for a platformless title. “You have to somehow grab readers' attention—Skinny Bitch got going when Posh Spice was spotted holding a copy.”

Still, some publishers are willing to take a chance. “People think I'm crazy but I actually believe you can have a successful book even if the author doesn't have a platform,” says Sterling's Nurnberg. “But only if the concept is good—something unique. And you don't pitch the author to the media, you pitch the concept.”

O'Neill at HarperCollins agrees: “If you have a fantastic approach, whether it be science, great writing or a truly unique voice, it can be done.” “You can't keep a good diet book down,” says Meredith's Kayko. “Strong word of mouth and distribution through multiple channels is more powerful than any platform.”

Of course no matter how compelling a diet book may be—and/or how strong a platform it's riding—there are those non-dieters out there who'll throw in the towel at the first mention of a hot fudge sundae. So if all else fails, those folks might want to pick up a copy of Jen Bilik's How to Get Fat (Knock Knock Books, Oct.), a satirical guide toward accomplishing a goal that is, well, all too easily met, however enjoyably.