In a much-anticipated (only by us media insiders) NY Mag profile of NYT wunderkind Andrew Ross Sorkin, timed with his first book “Too Big To Fail” about the financial crisis drama, lots of details about the book, how it came about, and Sorkin’s increasingly contentious relationship with rest of NYT biz journos, most of it inside baseball. Of more interest to us, how he started the DealBook and his role as one of the first journalist-entrepreneurs among the conservative lot at the paper. Here in a nutshell is his achievement at the Times: “With his DealBook e-mail, read by some 200,000 people, plus the blog, with 2.5 million unique monthly visitors, plus the weekly column, breaking news scoops, television appearances, and 60,000 Twitter followers, he is one of the Times’ most visible players. Media ubiquity is a strategic decision. In the cubicle jungle of the Times, he’s an entrepreneur.”

More about the genesis: “In 2001, he came up with the idea for DealBook…‘If I could get inside their e-mail box every morning, that would enhance our ability to break news,’ Sorkin says…It was a radical idea for the Times. The paper had never aggregated outside news under its flag before, and Sorkin had to convince his skeptical bosses that the paper could point its readers to competitors. He pitched DealBook to Martin Nisenholtz, who now oversees the Times’ digital operations. Brooks Brothers signed on as the inaugural sponsor. Initially, Sorkin anticipated an audience of 30,000 potential DealBook subscribers. Within a few months, they had attracted 80,000. Sorkin imagined DealBook as one part of a larger franchise. It would consist of special DealBook sections in the print paper, a blog, conferences, even a $5,000-per-year premium subscription�just the kind of gift horse journalists love to look in the mouth. At the Times, Sorkin has become something of an in-house entrepreneur, pitching revenue-generating ideas at a time when the paper desperately needs new sources of cash.”