I read interviews, his biography and watched many videos from Paulo Coelho and I came up with four things that authors can learn from him in order to reach more readers and have a greater impact in life.
1. Be bold — I mean really bold
In the year 1982 in the church of lady victorious in Prague, Czech Republic, Paulo Coelho made a commitment: “I want to be a writer who is read and respected worldwide”. He was committed to do the work and thought of himself bold; this is also what every one of us should start doing again — being bold with our wishes and dreams. Often times, especially academics, think of themselves very small. Be bold and start to dream again and one good point to start is what we thought about as children. What were our dreams? Do you wanted to sing or write? What happened during your journey? Remember your own dreams and wishes and start taking action today.
2. Love technology and marketing
Paulo Coelho just loves social media and he is the one of the most followed living authors on the planet on social media. There is a reason for this: he just loves social media and is posting regularly on his Facebook page, his Twitter and his Instagram account and also had a weekly newsletter (Link to his blog) where he is writing about his life. I would guess that many writer`s don`t do these things because they think that content is the most important thing. Yes, content is very important but you should also think about how to market your books and your content. Paulo Coelho not only loves technology, he is also very good at marketing and is constantly working on his own marketing skills. He is working together with Brendon Burchard who is a kind of guru when it comes to online marketing and how to share your personal message with people. I think many authors are intimidated about marketing because it sounds too much like selling. You should always remember that if you`re very good at marketing big publishing houses will be interested at you and are willing to pay higher advances for the author. So, work on your marketing skills and leverage technology to share your message.
3. Give free stuff
Paulo Coelho owns the electronical rights for his books and the reality is he is giving a lot of his books away for free. You can find a lot of his books as PDF if you just google the name of the book and there were also full audiobooks on youtube which are also completely free. It sounds paradox but through giving away free books he makes more sales. Why? This is like a law — you get what you give. So think of yourself as content creator and even if you don`t give your whole book away you should think about content that is related to your book or topic. What additional content can you create that is related to your major topic? Than create this kind of content as PDFs or videos and give it away for free. I`m sure you think, well Paulo Coelho can do this he is rich and famous but I can`t do that. The reality is that Paulo Coelho also did it at the beginning of his career. So always find ways to give valuable content that is helpful for people which is related to your main topic.
4. Believe in yourself
This is maybe the hardest one. Every time when Paulo Coelho is meeting young authors who are saying things like “Wait until my next book. That will be much better”. He can`t understand this; why are writer`s underestimating their work? You shouldn`t do this; be always proud of what you created. Of course you will improve in the coming years but always be thankful for what you already created because it takes a lot of discipline and energy to write a book.
So, these were four suggestions that will improve your path as author. Take them serious and you will be surprised about all the opportunities that will open up for you. I would also highly recommend that you subscribe to the newsletter of Paulo Coelho.
Ceyhun Yakup Özkardes is creator of the online course Author-preneur — path to freedom and success https://www.udemy.com/author-preneur/) where he teaches marketing and selling strategies for book authors.
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Originally published at medium.com