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IN THE former Soviet Union, in the late 1950s and 60s, many books that questioned the political system began to be circulated privately in mimeographed form. Their authors never earned a penny in royalties. On the contrary, they were persecuted, denounced in the official press, and sent into exile in the notorious Siberian gulags. Yet they continued to write.
Why? Because they needed to share what they were feeling. From the Gospels to political manifestos, literature has allowed ideas to travel and even to change the world.
I have nothing against people earning money from their books; that’s how I make my living.
But look at what’s happening now. Stop Online Piracy Act (S.O.P.A) may disrupt internet. This is a REAL DANGER, not only for Americans, but for all of us, as the law – if approved – will affect the whole planet.
And how do I feel about this?
As an author, I should be defending ‘intellectual property’, but I’m not.
Pirates of the world, unite and pirate everything I’ve ever written!
The good old days, when each idea had an owner, are gone forever.
First, because all anyone ever does is recycle the same four themes: a love story between two people, a love triangle, the struggle for power, and the story of a journey.
Second, because all writers want what they write to be read, whether in a newspaper, blog, pamphlet, or on a wall.
The more often we hear a song on the radio, the keener we are to buy the CD. It’s the same with literature.
The more people ‘pirate’ a book, the better. If they like the beginning, they’ll buy the whole book the next day, because there’s nothing more tiring than reading long screeds of text on a computer screen.
1. Some people will say: You’re rich enough to allow your books to be distributed for free.
That’s true. I am rich. But was it the desire to make money that drove me to write? No. My family and my teachers all said that there was no future in writing.
I started writing and I continue to write because it gives me pleasure and gives meaning to my existence. If money were the motive, I could have stopped writing ages ago and saved myself having to put up with invariably negative reviews.
2. The publishing industry will say: Artists can’t survive if they’re not paid.
In 1999, when I was first published in Russia ( with a print- run of 3,000), the country was suffering a severe paper shortage. By chance, I discovered a ‘ pirate’ edition of The Alchemist and posted it on my web page.
An year later, when the crisis was resolved, I sold 10,000 copies of the print edition.
By 2002, I had sold a million copies in Russia, and I have now sold over 12 million.
When I traveled across Russia by train, I met several people who told me that they had first discovered my work through the ‘ pirated’ edition I posted on my website. Nowadays, I run a ‘Pirate Coelho’ website, giving links to any books of mine that are available on P2P sites.
And my sales continue to grow — nearly 140 million copies world wide.
When you’ve eaten an orange, you have to go back to the shop to buy another. In that case, it makes sense to pay on the spot.
With an object of art, you’re not buying paper, ink, paintbrush, canvas or musical notes, but the idea born out of a combination of those products.
‘Pirating’ can act as an introduction to an artist’s work. If you like his or her idea, then you will want to have it in your house; a good idea doesn’t need protection.
The rest is either greed or ignorance.
PAULO COELHO
IN THE former Soviet Union, in the late 1950s and 60s, many books that questioned the political system began to be circulated privately in mimeographed form. Their authors never earned a penny in royalties. On the contrary, they were persecuted, denounced in the official press, and sent into exile in the notorious Siberian gulags. Yet they continued to write.
Why? Because they needed to share what they were feeling. From the Gospels to political manifestos, literature has allowed ideas to travel and even to change the world.
I have nothing against people earning money from their books; that’s how I make my living.
But look at what’s happening now. Stop Online Piracy Act (S.O.P.A) may disrupt internet. This is a REAL DANGER, not only for Americans, but for all of us, as the law – if approved – will affect the whole planet.
And how do I feel about this?
As an author, I should be defending ‘intellectual property’, but I’m not.
Pirates of the world, unite and pirate everything I’ve ever written!
The good old days, when each idea had an owner, are gone forever.
First, because all anyone ever does is recycle the same four themes: a love story between two people, a love triangle, the struggle for power, and the story of a journey.
Second, because all writers want what they write to be read, whether in a newspaper, blog, pamphlet, or on a wall.
The more often we hear a song on the radio, the keener we are to buy the CD. It’s the same with literature.
The more people ‘pirate’ a book, the better. If they like the beginning, they’ll buy the whole book the next day, because there’s nothing more tiring than reading long screeds of text on a computer screen.
1. Some people will say: You’re rich enough to allow your books to be distributed for free.
That’s true. I am rich. But was it the desire to make money that drove me to write? No. My family and my teachers all said that there was no future in writing.
I started writing and I continue to write because it gives me pleasure and gives meaning to my existence. If money were the motive, I could have stopped writing ages ago and saved myself having to put up with invariably negative reviews.
2. The publishing industry will say: Artists can’t survive if they’re not paid.
In 1999, when I was first published in Russia ( with a print- run of 3,000), the country was suffering a severe paper shortage. By chance, I discovered a ‘ pirate’ edition of The Alchemist and posted it on my web page.
An year later, when the crisis was resolved, I sold 10,000 copies of the print edition.
By 2002, I had sold a million copies in Russia, and I have now sold over 12 million.
When I traveled across Russia by train, I met several people who told me that they had first discovered my work through the ‘ pirated’ edition I posted on my website. Nowadays, I run a ‘Pirate Coelho’ website, giving links to any books of mine that are available on P2P sites.
And my sales continue to grow — nearly 140 million copies world wide.
When you’ve eaten an orange, you have to go back to the shop to buy another. In that case, it makes sense to pay on the spot.
With an object of art, you’re not buying paper, ink, paintbrush, canvas or musical notes, but the idea born out of a combination of those products.
‘Pirating’ can act as an introduction to an artist’s work. If you like his or her idea, then you will want to have it in your house; a good idea doesn’t need protection.
The rest is either greed or ignorance.
PAULO COELHO
the dawn, this morning
I can do it too, now. 
Thanks, Fabio. (I mean posting, not writing the client.)
Thanks, Fabio. (I mean posting, not writing the client.)
Not from a standard stautsnet client, but a specific friendica client can set it, if anyone want to write one
But just can not set the privacy .... Am I wrong?
~friedica has statusnet compatible api.
Just configure it with your username, your password and as a api baseurl: yourserver/api
~friendica
supports also oAuth, so you can use desktop clients like gwibber
http://kirgroup.com/display/fabrixxm/17836
Just configure it with your username, your password and as a api baseurl: yourserver/api
~friendica
supports also oAuth, so you can use desktop clients like gwibberhttp://kirgroup.com/display/fabrixxm/17836
But how did you get it to post to Friendica in your name?
and published in friendica?
Could be posted from mobile client...
"Gravity" is an android social networking client, isn't it?
"Gravity" is an android social networking client, isn't it?
I know yours was, Paul. But Fabio's post seems to be from elsewhere - and I assumed it was Statusnet. I think I've seen Charles do it, too.
... yes, but how do you guys do this (post from Statusnet)?
Febbre, caz..!
Programming is an art, great experience is needed to create great code. Developing software is not a mecchanical and unchanging activity, without stimulus or fantasy.
Starts: Friday March 23, 2012 @ 7:00 AM
Finishes: Saturday March 24, 2012 @ 11:00 PM
Location: Roma
Roma Tre, Dipartimento di
Informatica e Automazione
Via della Vasca Navale, 79
fortissimi ;)
I got it because it wasn't Windows, because Internet connectivity worked out of the box... stuff like that. I kept it because of Rexx.
Yes, OS/2 was great. I remember how hard it was to get it in the first place – I looked for OS/2 2.1 in all computer shops I could think of, but they either were sold out or didn't sell it at all (the latter, most of them).
At last I found it in comic books store. The owner liked OS/2 and had decided to sell it precisely because it was so hard to get elsewhere.
He only had the floppy version in stock, though, so I had to install from what I think were more than 20 floppy disks or so. X-)
Hard to imagine nowadays when it wouldn't be hard at all to find an online store for about everything one wants to buy.
At last I found it in comic books store. The owner liked OS/2 and had decided to sell it precisely because it was so hard to get elsewhere.
He only had the floppy version in stock, though, so I had to install from what I think were more than 20 floppy disks or so. X-)
Hard to imagine nowadays when it wouldn't be hard at all to find an online store for about everything one wants to buy.
It brought back warm memories of OS/2 - a commercial and proprietary operating system that somehow sustained a community with a spirit akin to today's Linux scene.
