Kate Bolick set the blogosphere on fire with her popular Atlantic article, “All The Single Ladies.” But it wasn’t just the behemoth nine-page, 12,000-plus-word piece that made headlines. The cover was also a rarity, an occurrence that only took place a handful of times in the magazine’s 154-year history.

“It wasn’t in the original plan at all. I hadn’t finished writing the piece yet when my editor called to say, ‘Now, they’re thinking about putting you on the cover.’ That blew my mind,” she shared in mediabistro.com’s  Hey, How’d You Do That?.

“My understanding on the reason they wanted to illustrate the piece with me is because it was in my voice,  [and the photos] further personalized the material” she said. “I love The Atlantic, but I had been feeling critical of how it has handled so-called ‘female topics.’ Would they have done this if the article had been written by a man? If a woman is writing about being unmarried, the first thing the reader thinks is, ‘How much of this has to do with what she looks like?’ I did have that critique of [my being on the cover], even though it was of myself.”

Read the full interview to find out how Bolick scored a book and TV deal for the article.