Paulo Coelho Explains Why He 'Loves Pirates'

from the world-has-changed dept

Wed, May 4th 2011 9:58pm — Mike Masnick

We've written a few times before about Paulo Coelho and his views on copyright, unauthorized use of his works and the importance of sharing. Coelho, of course, is one of the best selling authors ever, but set up his own "pirating" operation called "Pirate Coelho" to get his works more widely read... and found that his sales increased massively because of it. He's also spoken out about how the world is changing and authors will be punished for not sharing their works more freely.

TorrentFreak alerts us to the news that he's posted yet another blog post on the subject about how he "loves pirates" and how people underestimate that artists can and do get paid, even when their work is being shared in an unauthorized fashion. In fact, he's selling more books now that he's actively offering up more "pirated" copies of his own work than ever before:

How did all these social communities start?
At first it was just wanting to chat with another person. 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, the repression began.

Art is not an orange.
If you buy an orange and eat it, you have to buy another one, and then it makes sense that oranges should not be given for free, because the consumer consumes the product. Art is about beauty. Music is about beauty. If I visit a page and I like the music, I am sure I will buy the CD, because I want to know more about the work of the artist.

Always nice to see successful content creators speaking out on important subjects like this. A nice contrast to those who are so narrowly focused on making sure that no one else benefits from their work.

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Filed Under: copyright, infringement, paulo coelho, pirates, writing

17 Comments

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Man Behind A Mask, 5 May 2011 @ 12:06am

Neil Gaiman is another great author that is of the same mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qkyt1wXNlI
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The eejit (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 12:08am

Cue that Coelho isn't a real artist because he give it away in 5, 4, 3....
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Mr Big Content, 5 May 2011 @ 12:08am

Traitors Like This Should Be Sued And Jailed
He�s just letting down the whole side, and subverting the whole sacred principle of Intellectual Property. He should be arrested and prosecuted for incitement to copyright infringement.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 May 2011 @ 12:20am

recycledtorrentfreakstories.com
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Anonymous Coward, 5 May 2011 @ 2:22am

And he was so proud of his experiment that he undertook it behind his publisher's back. What honor! It is easy to be bold when you allow someone else to shoulder so much risk.
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tom, 5 May 2011 @ 2:35am

AC's are go!
1. Thank you for recycling torrent freak article - i dont go to torrent freak (though i may start now) but i do go here.
2. 'What honor!'?? If the publishers are selling more i am pretty sure they are pleased with Coelho's honour.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 2:41am

Re:
And he was so proud of his experiment that he undertook it behind his publisher's back. What honor! It is easy to be bold when you allow someone else to shoulder so much risk.

I love watching dinosaurs who don't understand lash out at that which they can't comprehend.

Is that really the best complaint you have? If so, you might want to read up on Coelho a bit before you continue to make assumptions that are based on things you do not understand.
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Darryl, 5 May 2011 @ 3:34am

The Alchemist
"A spiritually placid tale, this potentially 3D story is reduced utterly to a 2D plane. Perhaps it's the translation but it has no respect for the reader; choosing to slap us in the face with trite lines meant to astound and inspire, there is an aura of condescension that is difficult to ignore. Nothing is left to chance and the tale is laced with allusions to personal legends and the like. All the morals and lessons to be learnt are unashamedly splayed out before us naked and raw without even an attempt to have the reader do their own search. It was a frustrating read and it's brevity was the only thing that compelled me to finish it in the hope of some sort of redemption at the end, it never came.

Intellectual anaesthetic and not in a good way! This would be negative stars if I could, just for stealing precious moments of my life. "

he has also been broadly accused of stealing other authors idea's for the basis of his books.

But he does hold a Guiness World record !!! :)

"The Greatest Gift" would probably be one of the ones he 'lifted' the ideas from someone else. (and the title).

The article also notes that Coelho at one time published a book that had been written by a friend of his, never giving the friend credit for the work. The article notes that �Practical Manual of Vampirism� was pulled from the shelves because Coelho believed it to be �of poor quality,� the article states.

It is ok to give away your OWN works not so good to give away the work of another author.

The biography also revealed that Coelho's second book, 'Practical Manual of Vampirism,' was actually authored by an old friend and collaborator, identified as Toninho Buda, whom Coelho never credited for the work originally published in 1985.

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Rich, 5 May 2011 @ 5:43am

Re: The Alchemist
You can't steal an idea and you can't copyright a title.
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Josef Anvil (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 6:22am

Re: WTF???
"And he was so proud of his experiment that he undertook it behind his publisher's back. What honor! It is easy to be bold when you allow someone else to shoulder so much risk."

He ALLOWED the publisher to shoulder the risk??? Ok that is the DUMBEST thing I have heard in a long time. I keep telling Mike to add a moron button next to insightful.

The publisher takes the risk of paying his "client" a fraction of the projected earnings upfront. Publishers take this "risk" on what the estimate to be proven winners. If you look at the percentages of the gatekeepers in publishing and recording you will find they tend to resemble another type of gatekeeper....

Out on the street we would call them PIMPS.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 May 2011 @ 10:16am

Re: Re:
I hope your business partners treat their agreements with you as seriously as Coelho treats his.
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The eejit (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 12:12pm

Re: Re: Re:
And I hope your brain gets that coffee it neeeds so much.
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Jay (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 12:41pm

Re: The Alchemist
"he has also been broadly accused of stealing other authors idea's for the basis of his books."

So did Shakespeare. Look how it turned out for him.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 12:52pm

Re: Re: Re:
I hope your business partners treat their agreements with you as seriously as Coelho treats his.

Considering his publisher has now called me *six* times this morning trying to get in touch about how happy they are with our coverage of him... it certainly seems that they're quite happy with what he did.

You have information to contradict his own publisher's statements to me?
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The eejit (profile), 5 May 2011 @ 3:09pm

Re: Re: The Alchemist
All new culture is old culture. I guess someone forgot the memo.
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darryl, 5 May 2011 @ 10:00pm

Re: Re: The Alchemist
Linux is copyrighted, its a 'title'.

Microsoft is copyrighted, its a title.

Red Hat is copyrighted, its a title.

You CAN steal an idea, well most people can, only the stupid ones cannot.

He did not just steal an ideal he stole an entire book, and its title from someone else.

Once you have written a book it is no longer 'just an idea' it is a practical reality, and of value.

He did not 'steal the idea' he stole the entire thing for his own personal gains and profits.
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 6 May 2011 @ 12:55am

Re: Re: Re: The Alchemist
You CAN steal an idea, well most people can, only the stupid ones cannot.

No, you can't steal an idea - at least not without major brain surgery or electro-shock therapy and drugs - but you can understand and USE one and only the stupid ones can't....... hmm I'll stop that sentence there.
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