Stewart Signs 10 Book Deal with Potter

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 7/24/2007 9:00:00 AM

Martha Stewart has signed a 10-book deal with her longtime publisher Clarkson Potter. The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics and The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics are the first two planned titles to emerge from the deal, and are scheduled to be released in September 2007 and October 2007, respectively. The two books will feature a combined collection of 3,300 recipes, published over the last 15 years, in Stewart’s flagship publication, Martha Stewart Living. The remaining eight titles, which will focus on lifestyle topics as well as cooking, will be published over the next five years.

Lauren Shakely, senior v-p and publisher of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, Potter Craft, and Potter Style, said that Stewart will be focusing on "our reader’s favorite categories" for her first four titles: cooking, entertaining and weddings.  "For the future we have some flexibility and will probably widen the range," she said, adding that other topics will likely include crafts, gardening and home decoration.

Potter—which also publishes such culinary stars as Rachael Ray, Ina Garten and Giada de Laurentis—has maintained a longstanding relationship with Stewart, one that started in 1982. Since then, the house has published 57 branded Martha Stewart titles and has some 16 million copies of her books in print. The partnership was established with Stewart’s landmark Entertaining, which is still considered the title that helped Stewart launch her media empire, while, at the same time, changing the way Americans looked at hosting guests and throwing parties. A number of other bestsellers followed, including more recent titles like the 2005 Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook and the 2006 Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook.