My friend Paul Lloyd brings up a good point, in response to my earlier blog posts.

Paul suggests another approach: Make enough noise around her so that she hears about it and sees that you are right for her demographic. Her company stays on top of what’s happening in other media. They’re watching for emerging stars. Are you supporting the same organizations she supports? What are you personally doing for the  African-American community in Chicago? If you’re making enough noise in other spaces about what she cares about, she will find you.

Spend your effort on the other noises.

Good advice. Thanks, Paul!

In my last post, I shared Katie Williams’s story of how she got on Oprah & Friends, Oprah Winfrey’s XM radio show.

I know other people who have been called to be on Oprah’s show as well. Sometimes it works out and the crew actually shows up, sometimes not. That’s TV land; producers are prone to change anything at the last minute.

One thing I note from those whom Oprah calls back: They did not seek her out with publicity stunts. The people I know who have tried seemingly every trick you can think of, still haven’t gotten on. (Yet.)

Most of those who end up talking to Oprah did dream of getting on her show. They followed Oprah with genuine interest and admiration—often for years. They were in tune with Oprah and what she is doing. In many cases, they were Oprah’s audience!

If they were experts, they also knew how to present well on television. They had been on TV before. They had a message that Oprah knew would be interesting to her audience—and they knew how to deliver that message in a polished, entertaining way.

Make no mistake, Oprah knows her audience, inside and out. It’s her number one aim to speak to their needs and to entertain them.

If you want to get on any of Oprah’s shows, you have to do it her way. Listen–she even tells you how! Go to Oprah’s web site and you’ll see a whole list of show ideas they’re looking for. Fill out the forms that match your story to what they want. Be genuine about it.

I have heard interviews with former Oprah producers, and they affirm what I’ve said above. They also know how to spot insincerity instantly. If you don’t genuinely have a story to tell that fits what Oprah is all about, but are just trying to get on her show for your own gain—you don’t have a chance. An occupational hazard for really famous people like Oprah Winfrey is that people try to use you for their own gain. I’m convinced she and her producers can smell that a mile away.

If you want to get on Oprah’s show, you need to do two things.

First, study her closely. Sign up for her newsletter. Read her magazine. Don’t just watch her show—study it. Note the different formats she uses. What can you discern of her audience, from what you see, hear, watch? Don’t forget the clues the ads give you as to who her audience is.

Also note: What are the experts like? How does she use “real people” stories? Where might you fit in?

Visit her web site as often as possible and note carefully what they are looking for. Respond appropriately, being careful to follow their guidelines as to word count etc.

When you share your story, make sure it matches what they want, is believable, genuine, and as dramatic as you can honestly make it. Don’t exaggerate. Remember, she’s all about creating an entertaining show. Nobody cares about your book, your business, or you. They care about your story, if it can inspire, instruct, help or otherwise benefit the people who watch or listen to Oprah’s shows.

If you’re an expert, how can your expertise speak to Oprah’s audience? Do you have your “hook” ready, and has it worked with other media? Have you gotten comfortable with being on the media by doing lots of radio and television already? Have you gotten media training?

If you have an idea of your own, remember, what they’re looking for is a whole show idea. Think about who else you can have on, and what kind of format it would fit.

I once pitched her on my book, Men in Search of Work and the Women Who Love Them. I gave her ideas for couples to have on, other experts, everything. She never called me, but I did hear later she did a show similar to what I’d proposed. (Hey, it happens. Frankly, I wasn’t ready to be on her show at the time. Besides, it could have been someone else’s idea as well. Good ideas whose time has come tend to occur to more than one person in any given period of time. Nevertheless, I still like to think she ended up using and idea I gave her!)

Does all this sound like a lot of work? It can be. After all, Oprah is The Big Leagues. Here’s where Step Number Two comes into play: Be patient, diligent and persistent in following Step One.

If all this seems worth it to you, go for it! If and when you get on Oprah using these suggestions, let me know!

Next post, I’ll reveal what an agent recently told me about how publishers view an author being on Oprah’s show. (You may be surprised.)

Everyone wants to get on Oprah’s show, right? Her following is tremendous, and when she recommends your book, you can count on selling around 35,000 copies. Or so it is said. Here’s a story we can follow as it unfolds. If nothing else, it conveys the tremendous power of faith to make things happen.

One of my clients let me know that a friend of his was recently on Oprah & Friends, Oprah Winfrey’s new XM radio show.

The story is rather involved, but the bottom line is, a young woman named Katie Williams was listening to Oprah & Friends XM radio channel (which just launched in October). They said anyone can call in if they want to talk to talk to Oprah. The topic that week was facing trials and overcoming them.

Katie called in and left a message, not really expecting anyone to respond. She was wrong.

In a few days she got a call from the producer of the Oprah & Friends “Talk to Me” XM radio show. The producer asked Katie questions about what she learned from her brother’s suicide. Katie said she learned she had more strength than she knew, coming from sources she didn’t know existed.

After a few more questions, the producer asked Katie if she would like to talk to Oprah. Of course, she said yes. The producer said, “Every time I ask that question I never get a ‘no’.” They laughed and she told Katie what time to be ready and what to expect. “Oprah may decide to change the course of the show and decide to use different callers, but be ready just in case.”

Four days later, Harpo Radio called and said they would be ready for Katie soon. Katie waited on the phone, then Oprah said, “Today we’re talking to about what events taught us about ourselves and we’re talking to people like, Katie! Tell me about your story.”

So Katie plunged in and told about how when was 16, her 17-year-old brother committed suicide. How he had talked about it but no one believed him. Oprah told of some words Maya Angelou once said to her, that she never forgot: ‘”‘When people show you who they are, believe them.’ Believe them. When people say they’re going to commit suicide, believe them.”

“There was something so reassuring about hearing her speaking and caring about something that means so much to me,” Katie says. The conversation lasted maybe five minutes, then Katie found to courage to say, “I want to tell you a really great story of what happened after he died, and it involves you, but I never thought I would be able to tell it to you. Can I tell you the story?”

“Yep!” Oprah said.

Katie told her this: “No one knew I kept a journal after he died, not even my best friends, not even my family. But then I confided in a friend that I was writing one she said you should publish it. I thought no, who would want to read something so sad? But part of me believed her and that night I wrote about our conversation in my journal, and then, I don’t know why I did this, I flipped to the front of my journal and I wrote: ‘I want to go on Oprah to talk about this. I can help people.’ “

Oprah said, “You know what, Katie, you believed that something could happen and you made it happen. I wish more people understood that this is the way the world works. When you believe it, you can make it a reality. And here you are. Talking to me.”

Katie said, “Yes, I’m so glad that I got to tell you that story myself.”

Then Oprah asked the name of her book title, and she repeated it: “Journey of the Heart, Katie Williams. Will you send me a copy?”

Of course, Katie would send her a copy. “Great, I’d love to read it,” Oprah said.

“Isn’t that amazing?” Katie said. “I wrote your name in the front of my journal three years ago never knowing I would be able to talk to you.”

“That’s amazing,” Oprah agreed.

Katie writes, “Anything is possible, my friends! I learned today that it’s true: Any dream you have can happen, even if you think it’s impossible, like talking to Oprah. The deep pain of losing Gabe brought joy to me today that I never knew could come out of losing him. Not even skydiving compares to this excitement and joy.”

This show airs Thursday Nov 9th on XM radio channel 156. If you don’t have XM Radio, you can listen online for free for 3 days—just sign up on the 6th or later, just in case, so you’re time doesn’t run out. Then listen at 7am, 1pm, or 7pm Pacific Time.

Check out Katie’s site to learn more about her book, Journey of the Heart (whcih is self-published). K You should also be able to listen to a recording of her conversation with Oprah at the site.

A personal aside: Katie’s story came to me at an interesting time. One week before, I had received a letter from Christianity Today, Inc., saying they planned to reprint and use a story I’d written in 1987. The topic? Teen suicide. The story was called “Too Young to Die” and was a cover story for Christianity Today. They are going to reuse it as a topic for their downloadable Bible study guides sometime in 2007.

After I got the letter from CTi, I looked up my article. Thus the topic was fresh in my mind when I heard Katie’s story. And again I was reminded of the truth I learned in researching the article, the truth that Oprah underscored: “If someone threatens to commit suicide, believe them.”

We’ll see if Oprah does anything with the book on her television show. Katie Williams aspires to write and speak. This may well jettison her career into high gear. We’ll see.

In my next post, I’ll have more to say about Oprah. This is enough for one reading!