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"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book." Above quote certainly sounds present-day notion but it is attributed to Cicero, circa 43 BC. Generations con- flict aside, proliferation of book writing at times when only handwriting existed is a bit of surprise, especially when mentioned in a negative connotation. What would Cicero say today when authors can publish e-books without editors and publishers?True, self-published e-books are missing the promotion regularly done by publishers but programs like Kindle’s Singles make shorter e-books sold at a price lower than the cost of a single magazine issue - which creates new type of book market. And here lays the trap - who will regulate book publishing from now on? Publishers are on the market and have to be successful at that, however good publishers find and cultivate writers, they support a class of professional writers which might not otherwise exist as commercial promise. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) Roman philos- opher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist, widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, is a tragic human being. He witnessed the decline of Roman Republic and became an enemy of Mark Antony, attacking him in a series of speeches. He was proscribed as an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and subsequently murdered on Dec.7, 43 BC. When the assassins arrived, Cicero’s last words are said to have been: "There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly". |
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WEBSITE EDITOR:
Krešimir J. Adamić
