Your Book is Your Business

This is a question that, as a book-selling professional, I hear quite often. Authors think "if only I could get on Oprah, my book will become a bestseller!" Well, maybe. It's true that Oprah has helped sell quite a few books, but it's also true that the number of authors Oprah has helped in this manner is very small.

Trying to get booked on The Oprah Winfrey Show is like winning the lottery, or getting struck by lightening. It may or may not happen your lifetime, and the chances of it happening are very, very slim. It has nothing to do with the merits of your book. It's just the nature of trying to get booked on a popular nationally-syndicated television talk show.

First of all, you don't call Oprah. Oprah calls you. Her producers help decide which topics and books get mentioned on the show. They do not accept unsolicited books from authors, so sending one to them is quite literally a waste of time and postage. Don't think that your book will be "the exception." It is not. Oprah's producers know what they are looking for. It's "the next big thing," and they want that "thing" to be something that isn't being talked about by every other TV talk show at the moment.

It's amazing how many authors who want to be on Oprah rarely, if ever, watch the show. If they did, they would see that books don't get plugged all that often on the show. When they are, they are usually written by an author who is on the show to discuss the topic of the day, not their book. The book may be quickly flashed on the screen, but it's not as if the book is the main topic of the show. Those shows are relatively rare.

So, you have to watch the show. You have to know what kind of topics are regularly featured on the show. You can even go to Oprah's web site and find out what topics are coming up on their show and what kind of guests they are looking for. If your personal story or area of expertise (and your book) fit an upcoming topic, you can suggest yourself as a guest. Keep in mind, if you are accepted as a guest (again, a rare occurrence), it's not because the producers want you to spend an hour talking about your book. They want you because they think you can add something to the show...something that people will want to watch. That means you have to be a good interview.

Developing your interviewing skills takes practice. A good way to do that is to start in your local area. Send some press releases to your local media and offer review copies. Look for something happening in the news that pertains to your book and offer yourself up as a local expert on the topic. Build up your portfolio of local media appearances on radio and TV. Once you develop a reputatoin as a "go to" source for interviews you'll find that the media will start contacting you, instead of the other way around. National shows like Oprah keep their eye out for developing trends and stories from local and regional media. Remember, they're looking for the "next big thing."

I recently watched a show on CNBC called "The Oprah Effect." It told the stories of businesses that worked to get featured on Oprah, and the success they experienced after they did. One business worked for seven years at getting booked before they finally were. Thousands of others did not make the cut.

Even if your book is not featured on Oprah, there are many, many other media outlets and shows out there where you can promote yourself and your book. Start local, develop your "brand", become known for what you do, and who knows?

Maybe one day, you just might get that call from Oprah after all.