"A lot of people think when I talk about spirituality that I'm talking some pie-in-the-sky stuff," says Winfrey. "But it's not. I'm talking about how you get women to look at their lives differently and see that through the stories of other people."

Oprah will be on the cover of every issue of O for the foreseeable future. She also will have the first and last word in each issue of the magazine, opening with a column called "Let's Talk" and winding up with "What I Know for Sure," inspired by the final query film critic Gene Siskel used to pose at the end of interviews. "It's an interesting question," says Winfrey. "It [addresses] what you stand for, what is unshakable in your belief system."

In the premiere, Oprah also will have a piece about Sundays, encouraging women to create their own rituals for the day. And she will have a contribution to a regular section called "Books That Made a Difference."

Other regular O columnists will include financial guru Suze Orman on how emotions affect finances, spiritual author Gary Zukav on personal growth and self-help author Phillip McGraw on relationships.

Additional departments will include "Phenomenal Woman," inspired by the Maya Angelou poem. The section features "women who overcome great challenges or obstacles to connect with who they really are," Oprah explains. In "Use Your Life," O implores readers to "take what you have, not what Diana Ross has," says Oprah. "And use your life to make a difference in somebody else's." Another department is "Dream Big," focusing on women who follow their passions. On the lighter side, "Nice Work If You Can Get It" looks at dream jobs, like getting paid to eat chocolate or try on shoes (and keep them).

As Oprah continues her daily TV show and her work for Oxygen Media (including the Sunday-night cable show Oprah Goes Online), she says she is deeply involved with O and is spending as many as six hours per day on the start-up. Gayle King, a former TV host and Oprah's close friend, serves as the magazine's editor at large and Oprah's liaison to the staff. Hearst appointee Ellen Kunes serves as editor in chief, but Oprah has the last word on the book's content.