torrentfreak.com — Paulo Coelho, the best-selling author of "The Alchemist", is using BitTorrent and other filesharing networks as a way to promote his books. His publishers weren't too keen on giving away free copies of his books, so he's taken matters into his own hands.
Jan 24, 2008 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountJan 25, 2008
Again...if he wants to do that, then he shouldn't be a selfish assh**e and TAKE MONEY FROM A PUBLISHER! Writers are employees just like any other job. When you take money, your work is the property of the company you work for. That holds true whether you are a writer, a musician, or a machinist.
myztryJan 25, 2008
Good on him. Reading long material like books while sitting upright at a desk staring into a monitor is hell. Displays just can't compare to the near infinite resolution and thus reading ease of printed materials. It's not going to cannibalize story book sales even it they are free and also provides the ultimate in economical promotion.Reference material is a bit different because the ability to search and go straight to the relevant section is a great advantage.
myztryJan 25, 2008
More to the point, it would be good to know if a book is worth reading before buying a copy.
roblawtonJan 25, 2008
The Alchemist helped me with a lot, It changes lives, and has put me on the right track for my life
kempachiJan 25, 2008
At last someone with a little sense! Coelho's books are for chicks.
deskattireJan 25, 2008
Thank you. The author sucks. Total chick reading.
stevemaxJan 25, 2008
I don't know if the English translation added (or removed) anything from it, but I couldn't get past the first 50 or so pages of the original Portuguese text. Full of self-help crap, a mystical atmosphere that can't help but feel forced, full of stereotypes... Really, it wasn't a good book. If you want a good Brazilian writer, go for Machado de Assis, João Cabral de Melo Neto or many others; Paulo Coelho is pretty awful.
nudzJan 25, 2008
you might have missed a certain key element in the article. SALES INCREASED. So the published made MORE money thanks to him doing this on his own since they were too pigheaded to do it themselves.So no, he didn't take away their opportunity to recoup the money.
flashgordonwebOct 10, 2008
What a great promotion technique. I'll have to look further into this and add it to my ongoing set of book marketing techniques. <a class="user" href="http://www.bauuinstitute.com/Marketing/Marketing.html">http://www.bauuinstitute.com/Marketing/Marketing.h ...</a>This is one area that a writer can always use help in. Especially these days with the traditional forms of book marketing disappearing.
raydenvmJan 21, 2010
<a class="user" href="http://book-searchr.com/books/coelho" rel="nofollow">http://book-searchr.com/books/coelho</a> - free Coelho ebooks