Byzantine Publishing – The Emperor Speaks (Part 5)
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 9:25PM The Emperor stared for a few moments at his notes and shuffled his papers absently, coming suddenly and definitively to his decision: “So here’s where we stand, if I’ve got it right...and by the way since I’m the divinely chosen Emperor, I am infallible and can’t be wrong...we’re best off using John, Paul, Luke, Matthew, and Mark. We promote the book as non-fiction. It’ll run about two hundred pages. Besides Greek, we publish the Second Testament in Latin. We save money on scribes since Latin doesn’t use vowels.
“Production Department? Friar Theodorus, any other suggestions?”
“Majesty, if we use Arab numbers for chapters and verses, we’ll also save, otherwise we end up with numbers like CCCXXXVIII which is damned stupid and inefficient compared with 338,” the senior monk offered, anxious to make a contribution and gain favor with the Emperor and his senior staff. His hands were permanently stained with black, blue, and red ink, as was his upper lip below his nose where for fifty years Theodorus could never resist picking boogers with ink-stained finger tips.
Constantine nodded, acknowledging a valuable suggestion, one which might have implications beyond the immediate problem: “Good idea, Brother Theo. Let’s go with that. Maybe it will make the book more accessible to that ethnic market, too.
He turned back to his marketing director. “So, Leo and Marketing: it’s in your hands now. Without all the sexy, lurid, controversial stuff, this book is not going to sell itself. Ideas?”
At this juncture, Leo Kanzalatkis knew he needed to buy into Constantine’s decision regardless his own opinion and all the legal mumbo-jumbo aside. Lemonade from lemons.
“Boss, two ideas come to mind. First, what if we use some of the comp copies and put one in every room in every inn throughout your Empire. It would give us a way to reach successful, wealthier merchants. I’ll do a cost analysis, but it certainly won’t hurt.
“Second, I think it’s critical to success if we underscore and emphasize connections with the original Bible. It has a large and educated following after two thousand years. At the same time we need to promote how our Second Testament is an improvement on the First.
“I know this is a big stretch, but I think we should call it the New Testament instead of the Second Testament.”
“I like it. I like it. The New Testament. I like the sound of that. Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it. Gentlemen, and eunuchs, too, you have your marching orders. I want the New Testament out on the market before Christmas...which reminds me: what did we decide about a date for Christmas?”
the end