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.

Back in April Harper Collins announced it was launching HarperStudio a new imprint to be headed by Bob Miller, which would forgo the continually escalating bidding wars and book advances that are threatening to sink the publishing world, in lieu of a profit-sharing model, i.e., the writer gets less upfront (Miller says deals won’t top $100, 000) and a larger percentage of the profits.

This means that we aren’t acquiring the same books that other publishers are trying to acquire. In the beginning, we missed the adrenaline rush and the thrill of outspending our competitors. But as anyone who has ever gone to an estate auction off some roadside in Vermont knows, this also means that we aren’t buying things in the heat of the moment, furniture that we start regretting before we’ve barely lifted the broken pieces into the back of the car.

Senior editor Julia Cheiffetz tells us “We are asking some of the larger questions: In our oversaturated media environment how can we make books exciting and relevant and cool? as well as trying to face the very practical issue of returns and skyrocketing production costs.” So what kinds of books are they acquiring? Hint: Isabella Rossellini, Mark Twain, and 50 Cent are all on the list.

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‘I can’t think of anything less fun than running a newspaper’

Looking for a magazine that defines random? Simply stay at any Thompson hotel and pick up the 96-page debut issue of Room 100, a custom publication by Black Book produced for … wait for it … the Thompson Hotel group.

In it, you’ll find Hearst family heiress-cum-model Lydia Hearst completely nude discussing the state of the newspaper industry. Naturally: “I can’t think of anything less fun than running a newspaper. I get my news off the internet.” The rest of the profile, though, is tough to take. See, she’s just like us civilians:

Hearst-Shaw has a hereditary work ethic, in evidence beyond getting up at ungodly hours to be primped and photographed for Heatherette, Louis Vuitton, Clinique and the like.

In his editor’s letter, Steve Garbarino namechecks everyone from Andy Warhol to William S. Burroughs to Hunter Thompson to Hemingway to Mark Twain — because, as you know, writers do love boutique hotels.

Also included in the issue: an Adrien Brody poolside pictorial, a Moby-led jaunt through the Lower East Side, an interview with Warhol photographer Christopher Makos, an errant profile of Siberia Bar owner-outlaw Tracy Westmoreland, and an oral history of the Whisky a Go Go.