Martha Stewart & Public Relations

Orange Suits You

Forbes reports that Martha Stewart Living is seeing the same loyalty as her retail products selling at K-Mart.

Any expected besmirching-by-association has failed to put off admirers of Stewart's better-living vision. Previously, Kmart had noted the loyalty of customers to her line of household niceties. Now, acolytes of the home-decor high priestess are showing their colors on paper, too. Mediaedge:cia director George Janson said that "Subscriber renewals are really bouncing back." Some 70% of Martha Stewart Living subscribers said they planned to renew their subscriptions, Janson said. And those who planned not to largely blamed it on their own financial status, rather than Stewart's legal blemishing. The renewal rate is 19% better than the magazine industry average, a circulation consultancy group said. Doilies are a force to be reckoned with.

Could prison actually wind up helping Martha in the long-term? Only time will tell, but it certainly has not signaled the demise of our favorite domestic diva.

Martha Gears up for the Holidays

The AP reports on Martha as we head into the holiday march.

Martha Stewart, in prison for one of her favorite holidays, says she is "safe, fit and healthy" and grateful this Thanksgiving for the support of her fans.

In a new message on her personal Web site, the homemaking maven also says she is being treated fairly by staff and other inmates at the federal women's prison in Alderson, W.Va.

Stewart says she has received thousands of letters and 15,000 e-mails since reporting to prison Oct. 8. Her lawyers have said she spends much of her time at Alderson writing - perhaps for a book rumored to be in the works.

Martha has a ton to be thankful for in my opinion. Most interesting to note is that: "Shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the media company Stewart founded, have more than doubled since she was sentenced in July and have traded recently near $21 - its highest level since the stock scandal broke in 2002."

A simple prediction: Martha will turn her lemons into a refreshing pitcher of sparkling lemondade. She will also keep working her well-established Web site, Martha Talks. She will have some projects to promote after all and what better way? It's serving as her primary communication device.

Write Martha Stewart

Cox News Service offers up Martha Stewart's mailing address for the next few months:

Martha Stewart
Number 55170-054
FPC Alderson
Glen Ray Road, Box B
Alderson, WV 24910

Drop her a line.