Paulo Coelho turns tables on Harper Collins on matters of copyright

[aarthilal]

The best-selling author Paulo Coelho has managed to turn tables on his publishing house Harper Collins. Indeed, the New York Times released an article saying how Harper Collins is enabling the online reading of Coelho's book The Witch of Portobello in its website. The publishing house also announced it would be putting a Coelho book per month on it's website.
It seems that Harper Collins had no choice, since Coelho confessed in his speech during the DLD conference earlier this year, that many books (including Harper English versions) where in Pirate Coelho
Thumbs up for Pirate Coelho!

[JCamilo]

Considering he published a book in Iran because the copyrights law there are more severe, I would think twice about this thumbs up. He is just promoting his site, where he gets a lot of money from it (while having no consideration for the contracts with the editors he signed).

[Kafka's Crow]

I have no interest in his books whatsoever but he confessed to having released a pirated version of The Alchemist which helped the huge sale of this book. I am sure more and more writers will go this way, bypassing the publishing fat-cats and making money from things like sequences, special collectors' paper editions, movie rights and merchandise etc. It is a good idea to release a book online first and if it is good enough then look for side-deals like above. It is already happening in the music industry.

[Remarkable]

It might be commercially helpful,but it doesn't give much of a boost at culture.Basically,a person who can afford a computer and internet,can also afford to buy a book and reading the old-fashioned way is much more educative for the new generation.

An artist creates his art for want of recognition,not for commercial purposes.That is one's ultimate goal:to leave a mark on one's admirers hearts and minds.