I learned from my niece that my new book “The Witch of Portobello”, even before it was printed, was already circulating in its full version on the Internet. I was intrigued: how could that have happened?
My next step, naturally, was to look in all the search mechanisms where the manuscript could be found. The result was: nowhere. Even so, my niece showed me the original. I imagined that it had been sent by one of the five persons to whom I usually show my texts prior to publication. But that would mean casting suspicion on people whom I love; furthermore, I have been sending my unpublished manuscripts to them for years, and nothing has ever, let us say, “leaked out” to the public at large. Nor could it have leaked out via the editors, since they have not the least interest in releasing for free something that is their source of income.
I decided to leave the matter alone. After all, the Internet is a way of making culture truly democratic. But I insisted that my 24-year-old niece tell me where she had managed to obtain the manuscript. After much reluctance, she revealed to me a universe that I, who have been navigating on the Web for ten years, was utterly unaware of and that is absolutely impossible to control (as I shall explain at the end, although I feel that a lot of the people reading this newsletter know what I am talking about).
So, seeing that it was no use fighting against the impossible, I asked to visit this gigantic web. In other words, for four hours I became a “pirate” of myself. My niece insists that there is nothing wrong, that this is Internet culture, that this is what is changing the world, not the demonstrations against globalization in world forums.
What is the Internet culture? According to her, you have basic rights to information and pleasure. If you have money to buy a book, go ahead and buy it – it is much nicer to read in print. But if you don’t have money, your rights continue – and you have to find a way to exercise them.
How? There is a strange zone on the network called “Peer 2 Peer”. I looked for a translation (in a free dictionary on the Internet), and this means something like “from friend to friend”.
How did it start? My niece has the answer on the point of her tongue. At first it was just wanting to chat with others. Then came the need to chat with several people at the same time. But chatting isn’t enough – we have to share the music, the book or the film that we love. When there was no law against it, this information was exchanged freely. Finally, when the entertainment industry caught on and the repression began, the young people on the Internet always managed to keep one step ahead, and so the thing continues.
The concept has changed too: it used to be sharing something you admired with friends, now it is offering everyone something you feel should be shared.
The mechanism works more or less like this: I buy a book, and I like it, so I make a digital photocopy of its pages and put it in my computer, and at the same time I open a tunnel for anyone to come in here and take it. On my side, I enter this tunnel and go to the computers of others to take anything that interests me (usually music and films). Little by little this material is stocked all over the world, and nobody manages any more to prevent it being copied.
Then she showed me that in just one of the many “Peer 2 Peer” sites I have 325 works, in several languages, in hundreds or thousands of computers. I confess that I felt most honored by this proof that readers are truly the essential instrument for publicizing a work, even if this is not done by conventional means.
Of course, I am not going to show anyone how to get there – that involves a series of legal mechanisms that could complicate my life. Nor is it any use digitizing the expression in the search mechanisms: they won’t teach you the ropes. But if you have someone at home aged under 18, they are bound to have already a collection of songs that came from there. Ask your son, grandson or nephew.
But please don’t tell them that I have just discovered this now: they will think that I am too old, and I’ll lose a reader.
Dear Coelho,
First and formost, thanx for your writings that inspire me lot and young generation should read your books as this can be guidance or self development to encourage people to think and improve ourselves to be a better person. You r great person with positive mind! The greatness of GOD has make u a ‘tool’ to give or sharing ur ideas n talent to others 4 d benefits of d world. May ur story in Warrior of Light will always enlighten many people out there to open up their mind and heart and not to forget that we r juz God Mankind..Come as one,back as one. May God bless u~~
Izzah, Malaysia
sharing is caring =)
so i had to refind the book with the story:
it was actually about a man and his beloved disciples…
so i was almost right with grandfather…
and he wished for them to be able to call to god…
and so the practices were to help god come to them..
of course, each time god comes to them….
and to the end, they forget the place, the fire, the prayer..
but one person remembers the story and tells it aloud.
“and God still came…”
what a world indeed…
Paulo’s work known in places he himself would never have known ;o)
on the one hand… it is important to respect copyright of the author… AS a student I kNOW this when it comes to referencing someone elses work. The author has a right to say not more than %% of the work can be reproduced without authorisation. [This also i think is meaning that ten people cant copy %% each and put the results together as one].
People work hard to produce a piece of art or other work. They work hard to get it noticed. The internet is part of this world. The author has earnt that path to be visible.
Yet on the other hand, i sympathise with the reader who can not afford a book.. it is hard to miss out.. it is hard to wait.
yet surely this is no reason to overrule copyright?
in a way, copyright is a product of spiritual law.
in concluding, id like to reproduce a story that i read only last evening. Here seems the best place in Paulo’s blog to discuss it.
A grandfather is sitting with his offspring and it is coming to the time where death is drawing in. The grandfather is concerned for his family after his departing and so wishes to ensure that they shall know how to continue to be strong and always feel the power of God within them.
He tells his offspring that every year they should go to a special clearing in the forest, where they should light a fire and where they should say a special prayer.
The grandfather passes away and his family return to the sight in the clearing in the forest. They remember to light the fire, but they can not remember the special prayer. Yet they feel the power of God within them.
The next year, the next generation returns and remember their way to the clearing in the forest; but they can not remember the practice of the fire making, nor do they know the special prayer now. Yet they feel the power of God within them.
Again, the next time…. the family have returned.. but they can not find the clearing in the wood this time and they have forgotten about the fire and the special prayer. Yet they feel the power of GOd within them.
And so it is, that it is how God is within us all.
[the ending i have forgotten, whooops. of course... but i hope you'll get the jist of the story!!! sorry.]
ref: from Estes “women who run with the wolves”
i think!
Dear Mr. Coelho,
I have read all of your books and own printed copies of them too. I have bought them and gifted to friends as well.
But As I move around a lot, but do like to read things that I love on occasion, I have downloaded them on my laptop too. After a while it didn’t seem like a good idea to have three copies of The Alchemist in three different locations but none with me, so I just googled and Viola! I am thankful to you for writing such wonderful books and one must also thank those who took the trouble to “digitize” every single page and share with the less fortune that cannot afford to buy or simply happen to be in a country where they can’t find MOST literature that we take for granted. And YES there are many such places on this same planet we live on. I know this, because that’s how I ended up with my first digital copy of your works.
Many thanks for your wonderful efforts and Wish you all the best.
~ Psycho Wabbit ~
You are a very generous person to worry more about not casting suspicions on your friends, than to worry about how it got the internet. Afterall, it doesn’t matter does it? What is was done, was done. I admire how you choose to respond. I aspire to your level of generosity.
Peace and light be with you always. Thank you always for the light that you have brought into the world. I always draw from it when my own light starts to dim.
The light of your work has left a print in my heart, that will always be a wellspring when my own well seems to dry up a little. All I have to do is revisit the spot that you touched, and I remember that anything is possible, and that everything is a lesson.
I thank you always.
1luv
Dear Paulo,
I must confess i have downloaded (& therefor read)almost all of your books in english and russian. I come from armenia and 2 years ago “the alchemist” was translated into armenian. i bought 3 examples of it for me & my brothers. I have bought 3 books of yours published in russian and i paid the legal price for it. by the way, i have 2 of them signed by you
Where i come from, money is vital. we don’t have the luxury to spend it on smth that is not necessity for living (like food for ex.). I am downloading becuz i have no other way to read your books. I know that downloading is stealing. They say, the ends justify the means. i don’t agree with it. I am aware of what i am responsible for. Sometimes you consiously choose to do the wrong knowing that you will have to pay for it. And i am ready to pay for it. Maybe one day, when i will have enough money i have to buy 1000s of your books and give them to the poors… who knows?!
you think that we are not born with yhe knoweldge ,but we leanrt all things from life and your friends
Really you don’t think you will lose a reader but you will win more with your simplicité
Thank you Sir Paulo you’re the best
Paulo, I have not downloaded you books for free – yet – but I must say I am very tempted. It is just how it is right now.. but don’t worry things are changing and if readers like me keep the original meaning to what you purpose is pure then – your path will continue.. I am glad you are letting it go and moving on – with the sins
dear paulo,
the alchemist was the first work of yurs that i have read. for sure, it made a great impact on my life. it helped me broaden my horizons. the other books like valkyries and by the river piedra are equally commendable.
i would say your books are really a big help to young readers like me. it teaches us to look for deeper meanings in our life…it tells us that there is more than the facade where we put the seconds of our life into useless existence.
it is one of my greatest wish that i meet you in person and have the chance to discuss my simple thoughts about humanity with you. i know this may be an impossible wanting but who knows, i haven’t given up the idea yet.
i thank you for giving me more inspiration to pursue my dream of being a writer,telling the world of hopes that were lost in the pages of history, but if given a seconf thought, is simply right in front of us.
i strongly believe, just like how you write, that HOPE shall be in affect to human lives, people always say we humans are hopeless, but i believe the opposite. i know the HOLY TEACHINGS are true and that HOPE shall furnish the way of these noble thoughts into the lives og human.
i hope you can react on the way i write. any comments would really be highly appreciated.
Dear Paulo, you would be amazed at what technology can achieve in the hands of those that are from different ages. for example, a rogue and a ruffian from the Sixteenth century Europe, occupying a high position, may do with this ability to connect and steal (you look at it in a generous sense since you are you)!
To silence dissent. Used extensively. Few manage to speak despite that and fewer still would know how to when the technology affords apparent invisibility!
Combine that with the religious liberalism of that age, and you would know and learn a little about the roads still widely in use in India that were left behind in time. The charm of living in India is this stunning encounter of bygone ages…the encounter of modernity often leaves modernity little less modern… Your ideas and values are futuristic and fantastic. We can merely mimic the motions, minus the comprehension – with the same devastating effect!
A little leaf
in the windswept street
of those cobbled steps of history
struggles to be free…
I have learned of your work this year. It has changed my life. First, The Alchemist. Next, Eleven Minutes. Then on and on, like an addict. Two days ago I finished The Zahir and I am halfway finished with Veronika. Each time I read another book, or really story, I want to stretch my mind, challenge my body, loose my soul. I have told others, many others, about your work. As soon as I read a book I pass it on to someone I love. Sometimes they are as thrilled as I am. Sometimes not. Thank you, more than you can know, for the pleasure, the wisdom and the joy you have brought me. My dream since childhood was to write novels. Now I have commenced and I owe my passion to follow my dream to you.
Thank you.
Patricia
dear Paulo,
i think you’re great. i mean, you are even willing to publish your books online to be downloaded by readers for free. i think this shows how open-minded and genuine you are in sharing your stories with the world. thank you for this and for your inspiring books.
i am a teenager and i understand this P2P business. though i am not an avid supporter, i have to agree with your niece that it is a right nonetheless.
anyway,i can’t wait to read your next book (in print). God bless you and merry christmas.
-Jo
Well, at first I was very intrigued, I did let all my good friends know about this and now, I wonder if I should read the “Witch…” that finally “managed” to arrive in my computer. I guess curiosity killed the cat, but I’m not one, so I’ll read it one of these days. You should not worry about losing readers. You are just gaining thousands each day and that’s because your words are so true.
Thank you for your gracious words of wisdom.
Alina
Romania
“Runbandhas’ or ‘rin-bandhas’ r supposed to be the ties that make the play of Karma and hence this world of interrelations possible. Literally it means rin – debt bandha – binding. For ‘liberation’ u’r runbandhas r supposed to be brought down to zero, by u either living out the debts ( while not creating new once ) or burning them up alltogather as happens in sudden enlightenent.
I just wrote about the ‘IPR rights for mother’ to exaggerate the issue. A mother not only gives birth to the physical form but also shapes up the intellectual make up of her creations. Just because the cerations are too good, they have a mind of their own, she looses her right ? Supppose tomorrow some smart group of scientists succeeeds in cretaing a robot with a true Artificial Intelligence ( something which I don’t think will be possible, intelligence has more to do with unknown than known,but just suppose ) will u deny them IPR just because they have created intelligent being.
Thanks for u’r patience, …..
regards,
Aditya
Dear Paulo,
To download books? I find it ridiculous…
I can understand it when it comes to music; here in sweden the prices for a CD is at least three times its actual value. No wonder people download instead.
But a book? Why would I read a book on the computer? They are not even expensive. And second; you are my favourite author. Of course I would like to see my whole bookcase stuffed with YOUR books. To support you and your work but also (mostly!) for my own pleasure, of course. I cannot believe a (very very long) text on a computer can give me the calmness and relaxation a book – at least one of your books – always provides me.
Thank you for all your open-hearted wisdom communicated through your texts and books.
Yours sincerely,
Mia
Dear Paulo,
The Internet is really magical in making culture democratic. I am so glad to hear about free download from your website. You are very generous in sharing. Once I’ve heard remarkable words which I’d like to devote you “From thee I receive to thee I give together we share and from this we live”.
Good luck to your all good beginnings,
Nona from Georgia
Hey everyone!
Mr. Coelho is an amazing human being for treating this matter in such a gracious manner.
I believe that a person who has the wisdom to write such amazing books also has the wisdom to decide the manner in which to share these works with public.
However one may try to justify it, taking someone’s work witout his/her knowledge/permission is STEALING.
Pooja.
Hey Aditya!
Thanks for responding 2 my comment.
I m sorry but I will have 2 diagree with u again.
See, education was not considered complete until Guru asked for Gurudakshina. Agreed that Gurus asked only for smthing nominal, just a token, most of the time.But it was an integral part of the whole education.
And agreed that Dronacharya did not impart Ekalavya education directly (in fact he had denied him an education); but Eklavya still considered him his Guru.
Now, on the second issue: A mother’s creation is INCOMPARABLE as what a mother creates has a mind, feelings;those creations are living & breathing individuals who after a certain age can exercise their rights, & until then ie in their infancy only parents have a right to take any decisions on their behalf.
Likewise a writer has the right to take decision on behalf of his creations (forever in this case).
And yes Aditya, Pooja means worship.Y r u not able 2 worship? Hmmmmmmmmm?
What does ‘runbandhas’ mean?
Pooja.
Hi ! Pooja !
Pooja means worship isn’t it. Probably that is what I need, to be able to worship.
Dear All, & Pooja
U r right, Dronacharya did ask for and got what he wanted; but because of that one Gurudakshina he lost his glory. A guru had a right to ask for any Gurudakshina and the disciple had to obey; as he was anyway expected to obey his guru unconditionally. But only those were considred Guru of the highest order who did not ask for anything. The practice of Gurudaskhina was to eliminate accumulation of ‘runbandhas’;once u receive something from any one ( it’s not a question of his giving, Dronacharya never gave that shiksha to Eklavya ) once u receive anything ( good or bad also, u may choose not to receive the bad as shown by Buddha ), u must give back something to the source from where u received it, that way the runbandha gets balanced out, again it’s a not a question of value. The state of mind or heart decides the value. Neither it’s of type ( someone slaps me I don’t have to slap back, can try Gandhigiri, that too will suffice )
So Pooja I will agree to u as above, Guru had a right which the true gurus never needed to exercise because the shiksha itself was supposed to be enough to inculcate the samskars which nullified the need for asking for anything specific. Gurudakshina was / is a prerogative of the masters not teachers who teach u something for a fee. In India we have Gurus and then many Teachers passing themselves off as msters. ( How to diffrentiate ! I have a vague idea )
By making me contemplate the issue, you have helped me in refining my thoughts on the issue a little more. Thanks.
The issue is pertinent in view of the ongoing debate about IPR regulations. How much should one be allowed to benefit from something that s/he no doubt creates, but only because others facilitate it and still others have left their wisdom for mankind (including the person who calims royalty for his creations ), for free. The universe has changed, and so must our views on the issue; out of his cretaions one may claim a resonable (??) subsistance, anything more is profiteering. Imagine ! if a mother starts claiming IPR right on her creations ( her children) .
Hope others don’t mind, free to join though !!
Dear Mara ! I always read your submissions to this blog twice, your views help me as does paulo’s and most others here. I feel like responding to each and evry entry on this blog; but that won’t be proper, i will be taking up too much space, whatever I am allowed here is already bordering on the limits of my conscience. ( Some technicalities prevent me form participating on the discussion board )
regards
Aditya
Paulo, you are simply amazing!
Welcome to the digital age!
– bianca b
Hi Aditya
I read your comment & have to disagree.
Education was never free; not even in ancient India. Gurudakshina was fixed by Guru & not the disciple. What’s more the Guru could ask for ANYTHING in Gurudakshina. Remember the story of Guru Dronacharya & Eklavya.
Pooja.