By Paulo Coelho
Despite my being in this remote region, I wasn’t alone:
People were travelling with me through the words of my blog
The American journalist Jeff Jarvis has come by my house to interview me. Here I am, face to face with one of the most incisive technology journalists of today – via his blog BuzzMachine – and he is asking me what I think of the internet. I find the idea mind-boggling, to say the least; it would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when Google was a fledgling search engine and the internet a mystery to most of us.
Still, I had a suspicion at the time about the potential of this new medium, and I decided to launch my own website and newsletter, and opened an email account for readers who wanted to contact me. One of the myths about writers is that we write our books in lonely ivory towers; in my case, I was never very keen on the notion of the reclusive author working in solitude, and have always tried to interact with my readers.
So I’ve spent a lot of time on my website, knowing that it is one of the rare public platforms, besides the traditional book signing, open to me. Yet, despite the success of the site and newsletter, I felt that more could be done – but what? The answer is the result of ten years’ fascination with the medium.
My virtual journey
In 2006, I decided that, rather than separate myself from the world, I would take a different path. The road is made by walking – this is the first tenet of every adventure. You place your foot on uncharted terrain and from there the road somehow imposes itself on the walker. I left my house in France for three months, visiting Tunisia, Italy, Bulgaria and Ukraine, before I embarked on my Trans-Siberian journey, a 5,772-mile trip from Moscow to Vladivostok.
I shared my experiences every two to three days with readers from all over the globe via my blog. The feedback was incredible – despite my being in this remote region, I wasn’t alone: people were travelling with me through my words. The blog lasted a couple of months; I knew, though, that this first contact had to evolve somehow. But how?
Just like magic
When I returned home, I had a couple of months before the publication of my novel, The Witch of Portobello. I knew from previous experience that the free-sharing of my book over the internet would increase its visibility, so I didn’t hesitate to post it on peer-to-peer websites and on my blog.
The more I’ve ventured into the virtual world, the more I have realised that the internet has a logic of its own and its credo is: share everything freely. This was my message when I spoke at the “Digital, Life, Design” conference in Munich earlier this year.
The feedback from readers and media alike to the internet incarnation of The Witch of Portobello was such that I started a blog called the Pirate Coelho, where I posted links to free electronic copies of my books. Of course, this “underground” activity was undertaken without the knowledge of my publishers. But on the official side of things, I was also exploring as many ways as possible of communicating with my public via websites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.
Share and share alike
Then, one day last year in Geneva, after visiting the blogs of some of my readers, I had an idea: why not work together? From this simple thought emerged the Experimental Witch project. I extended an online invitation to participate in a film adaptation of The Witch of Portobello. Aspiring film-makers were asked to film one of the 13 tales that the book interweaves and post the results on YouTube. Musicians could use MySpace to send ideas for the soundtrack.
Now, the submissions are all in, and the winning entries will be announced on my birthday, 24 August. Though some excellent work may be left aside in arriving at a manageable length for the film, this distant collaboration means I have been able to see the film my readers picture as they read my work.
So I looked at Jeff after he’d finished his questions, and asked him: “What else should I do?”
Apparently, Jeff thinks I’m doing just fine.
Welcome to Share with Friends – Free Texts for a Free Internet
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re an August bambino too! How grand! I was just given five of your books incl.’The Witch of Portobello’ for my birthday…I wanted to do a cartwheel!
Heart- I totally know what you mean by energy and the lack of it although we’re so young :) Hmmm. What to do?
You know…when it’s your birthday coming up soon…you should make a wish. What would you like for your birthday?
As a blog writer, I have found that the blog is a very beautiful way to connect with others in the global village. As you aptly expressed: “Despite my being in this remote region, I wasn’t alone:
People were travelling with me through the words of my blog.”
I am amazed at how people can respond to something on a blog. As I’m sure you are finding, it creates a way for your readers to respond to you in a way that a book signing or public event does not. There is something so very sacred when a virtual stranger decides to lay bare their soul in a public forum, in writing, and invite you into that space.
People are always encouraging me to write a book based on what I’ve shared in my blog. And I tell them that the book is being written with every blog entry. I applaud your willingness to share your writing so freely with the public. Access to the written word, in any form, is one of the greatest freedoms of all.
Paulo tu trabajo es formidable. Tienes una creatividad que se sale fuera de los libros y del ordenador llagando a nuestras casas y compartiendo mil y una forma distinta cada dia, llendo tu trabajo en progreso y ofreciéndonos variedad de fuentes de cultura y aprendizaje.
Los que seguimos tu blog desde hace tiempo lo sabemos.
Gracias por darnos gratis tantas cosas compartidas.
Un beso.
Thank you Paul,
I’m not peculiarly in pain today, though I cried some river in the morning, that’s true. In fact today is a really beautiful one for me. I just wanted to say, that I learned many loving things, but there were here for long around my eyes, while i was not up to see them.
You’re very sensitive to words, or connected to us; ot both. But it warms my heart, and put a smile on my face.
Thank you.
God bless you Paul.
Thank you for sharing…and yes, you are doing great.
love
Agnieszka
These are not my words, but if it can help,
I can share, just imagine Bono singing supported by his fellow musicians The Egde, Larry Mullen jr and Adam Clayton: Yahweh by U2 in How to dismantle an atomic bomb
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?
Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break
Peace and Love or Else
Damien
Yesterday I went to see my Mother, who is 90 years old and recently I had given her the ‘Eleven Minutes’and she read it. [She has read most of your books]. She has arthritis, since she was 48, but her mind is more active than mine.. I was telling her, and my sister, about it becoming a film and the news of your blog and that I have just bought the ‘Witch of Portobello’ and she said: “as soon as you finish it I would like to read it. I like the way Paulo Coelho writes”. So, I think, if you ever come to ..Cyprus you will have to meet her as well. Maybe she is your eldest reader. You are doing marvellously and have given happiness and kept company to so many people. Thank you and take care.
LOVE, THELMA
“Apparently, Jeff thinks I’m doing just fine.” And Jeff is right. I suppose you work very hard, plus you are daily close to us. This personal message is just a proof of your thanking and love to your readers.
I Love
Your blog is the best in the world! I actually found you for the first time when a news paper recommended your online publishing of The Wich of Portobello. I read it and was “hooked”. Many authors are scared of publishing online, afraid they won’t sell any paper copies anymore. In my case, definitely not true. After reading the internet posted version, I ordered many of your books in paper copies. Isn’t it fantastic how much we can learn and experience through this medium. Mr Paulo, what I don’t understand, is your energy. I’m younger than you, but cannot keep up with you at all. Wish I had more time to spend with your blog, to absorb better. Oh well.