The most profitable blog in history
Until recently, Jessica Cutler was an undeniably attractive twentysomething staffer for Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). For most of the month of May, Cutler blogged anonymously as Washingtonienne. The posts mostly recounted various alleged trysts with various men — some of them involved money changing hands — some of whom were allegedly high-ranking administration officials. In ...
Until recently, Jessica Cutler was an undeniably attractive twentysomething staffer for Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). For most of the month of May, Cutler blogged anonymously as Washingtonienne. The posts mostly recounted various alleged trysts with various men -- some of them involved money changing hands -- some of whom were allegedly high-ranking administration officials. In late May, DeWine fired Cutler from her $25,000 position for "unacceptable use of Senate computers," and Cutler stopped blogging. The Washington Post's Richard Leiby and (the undeniably attractive) Wonkette covered this in detail at the time. Yesterday, the New York Times reported the following:
Until recently, Jessica Cutler was an undeniably attractive twentysomething staffer for Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). For most of the month of May, Cutler blogged anonymously as Washingtonienne. The posts mostly recounted various alleged trysts with various men — some of them involved money changing hands — some of whom were allegedly high-ranking administration officials. In late May, DeWine fired Cutler from her $25,000 position for “unacceptable use of Senate computers,” and Cutler stopped blogging. The Washington Post‘s Richard Leiby and (the undeniably attractive) Wonkette covered this in detail at the time. Yesterday, the New York Times reported the following:
Ms. Cutler has taken what, for generations of young women who have become involved with the powerful, has been the next logical step. She has become a writer. Yesterday she sold a novel based on her exploits to HyperionDisney (Walt). Her agent, Michael Carlisle of Carlisle & Company, said the price was “a substantial six figures,” and Hyperion would not be more specific. Not only did he sell her novel, he said, but she will also pose nude for the November issue of Playboy. Ms. Cutler’s novel will be called “The Washingtonienne,” after the name of her blog. Mr. Carlisle said that Ms. Cutler would not speak to the press until the book was published, perhaps a year from now.
About that Washingtonienne book deal: We hear the bidding started Tuesday at $75K, based on a 25 page proposal (described as “pretty f***ing twisted”). A dozen houses went for it, and she wound up with a cool $300-f***ing-000.
So, basically, Cutler got a $300,000 return on approximately two weeks worth of blogging. Readers are invited to suggest ways for other bloggers to make that kind of scratch involving blogging that do not involve a) cheating on spouses; or b) committing a felony.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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