Paulo Coelho opens up to the net

24 October 2008 | 0:00 - By Stefano Boscutti

Author Paulo Coelho was recently celebrated at the Frankfurt Book Fair for sales of over 100 million books around the world and for his energetic efforts in sharing his work, and his time and attention in interacting with readers, freely over the internet in multiple languages.

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Paulo Coelho opens up to the net He gave a talk wondering why the book industry still doesn't embrace the internet. Given that books as media are still widely used, why not share the whole digital content of books for free? Contrary to what common sense tells us - and common sense is not always a good guide, otherwise publishers, booksellers and writers would probably be doing something more profitable - the more you give, the more you gain. Speaking to the larger paradigm of internet culture, Coelho said there's an important element to this which most people are not fully aware of: people are sharing what they deem pertinent in a free way and they expect the same thing to occur in all systems of mass communication. The usual mass communication channels have a hard time understanding this. As was evident when he was immediately followed by the director of the German Publishers' Booksellers Association Dr. Gottfried Honnefelder who insisted that the real problem is a need for stricter laws to monitor and punish internet piracy. So it seems the industry still doesn't get it. Let alone irony.

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2008/10/14/the-franfurt-book-fair-speech/

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About this Blog

New New Media looks at how our mediascape is exploding to bits. How the latest technology and the internet are changing the way we live, work and play. How the latest media is shaping us all.

Stefano Boscutti is an executive creative director and strategist. He's like a better looking version of Todd Sampson. He also has an abiding faith that stories and wordplay (and not powerpoint presentations) will change the world.

 
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