Documentary on Raul Seixas.
Raul Seixas (1945-1989), Brazilian rock composer, singer, songwriter and producer, born in Salvador, Brazil, and died of pancreatitis in São Paulo.
Prior to being a writer, Paulo Coelho was in a song-writing partnership with Raul Seixas.
Thanks to Paulo Coelho for posting on his blog.
Synchronicity: Only a couple of days ago, I was discussing Raul Seixas with a Brazilian girl and the song-writing partnership he had with Paulo Coelho.
Then my neighbour Yakob said:
‘Speak to us about defeat.’
And he answered:
* * *
Does a leaf, when it falls from the tree in winter, feel defeated by the cold? The tree says to the leaf: ‘That’s the cycle of life. You may think you’re going to die, but you live on in me. It’s thanks to you that I’m alive, because I can breathe. It’s also thanks to you that I have felt loved, because I was able to give shade to the weary traveller. Your sap is in my sap, we are one thing.’
Does a man who spent years preparing to climb the highest mountain in the world feel defeated on reaching that mountain and discovering that nature has cloaked the summit in storm clouds?
The man says to the mountain: ‘You don’t want me this time, but the weather will change and, one day, I will make it to the top. Meanwhile, you’ll still be here waiting for me.’
Does a young man, rejected by his first love, declare that love does not exist? The young man says to himself: ‘I’ll find someone better able to understand what I feel. And then I will be happy for the rest of my days.’
In the cycle of nature there is no such thing as victory or defeat: there is only movement.
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And within that cycle there are neither winners nor losers, there are only stages that must be gone through. When the human heart understands this, it is free and able to accept difficult times.
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Losing a battle or losing everything we thought we possessed will bring us moments of sadness, but when those moments pass, we will discover the hidden strength that exists in each of us, a strength that will surprise us and increase our self-respect.
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Wait patiently for the right moment to act.
Do not let the next opportunity slip.
Take pride in your scars.
Scars are medals branded on the flesh, and your enemies will be frightened by them because they are proof of your long experience of battle. Often this will lead them to seek dialogue and avoid conflict.
Scars speak more loudly than the sword that caused them.
– Paulo Coelho, Manuscript Found in Accra
Recently published Manuscript Found in Accra.
Set on the eve of the invasion of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. The action takes place in a square.
A manuscript is found in Accra. It tells the story of the eve of the Crusaders attacking Jerusalem. The style is very much that of Kahlil Gibran The Prophet and Jesus the Son of Man.
Manuscript Found in Accra No 28 in WHSmith
It is easy to see why bookshop chains are failing.
Over the last couple of years, we have seen the Aleph farce and NeverSeconds farce, two potential best sellers not on display.
Last Thursday saw the official UK publication of the eagerly awaited Manuscript Found in Accra, in the US Tuesday of this week.
The publisher having failed to set an embargo (better than actually forgetting as they did with Aleph), Waterstone’s and a few indie bookshops stole a march and had it on sale, and on display. But why not on display in the window?
Today, I had junk e-mail from Waterstone’s, usually I delete unread, but today I had a glance. Books I must read for April. No mention of Manuscript Found in Accra. Same for junk e-mail about ten days ago. I daresay publishers pay for a mention, not based on merit.
Thursday of last week WHSmith had it on display at half price, if you looked hard enough, but not on display in the window, and if asked, the staff not a clue what asking for. One store had three copies, another two copies.
I even took the trouble to speak to the manager in one of the stores and point out he had an international best seller.
Tuesday, I visited WHSmith. One copy of Manuscript Found in Accra, that was after speaking to the store manager.
Today, same store, not a single copy!
I asked a member of staff. She wandered aimlessly around the store with me in tow. No we don’t have, I will get some one to look it up. No, it is out of stock.
I am then told they have deliveries on Thursdays. Today is Thursday. And? We have not opened it up yet. And when was the delivery? This morning. It is late afternoon. And you have not yet looked at the delivery? We were too busy. I look around the store and see it is empty, staff standing around like zombies. Does your computer system not tell you what was delivered? No.
No one had a clue what I was asking for.
I walk out of the store in disgust.
We have seen many High Street chains go bust. I am surprised Waterstone’s and WHSmith are not among them. Of the two, WHSmith is the worst. The staff seem to be Asda or Tesco rejects and know nothing about books, the shops are shabby as though in a pound shop.
Last week Manuscript Found in Accra was number 28 in their charts, this week, one week later, nowhere to be seen, I wonder why?
The publishers are to blame. Writers need to take a stand. Fine you may offer my book to a chain at a big discount, but you must offer the same discount to the indie bookshops. But having said that, many of the indie bookshops (if you can find any) are crap too. I rarely go in bookshops, they are depressing. Usually piled high with celebrity crap. A very rare exception is P&G Wells, an indie bookshop in the back streets of Winchester, a joy to visit, as bookshops used to be.
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 in Barnes and Noble on day of publication. Maybe unlike WHSmith, they made it readily available.
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 on Amazon. Which only goes to show the demand and where it could be in WHSmith if they got their act together and actually sold books!
Manuscript Found in Accra No 28 in WHSmith
Within a space of five years we lost a quarter of all our indie bookshops. The chains are faring little better.
It is easy to see why they are failing, and it is not the internet or Amazon which are simply scapegoats for bad practices, bad businesses acumen, and failure to know anything about books.
Independent bookshops are being put out of business because we do not operate in a level playing field. The chains Waterstone’s and WHSmith are offered massive discounts which are not available to the little guys, which enable the chains to offer books at anything up to 75% off.
But even with these massive discounts the chains are failing.
A couple of years ago we saw the Aleph fiasco. Walk into Waterstone’s they did not have it on display, the staff did not have clue what it was. A book by a leading author, an international best seller, and the staff did not have a clue, the shops did not have on display.
The same happened last year with NeverSeconds, by Martha and David Payne. There can be few books that has as much publicity, it was a potential Christmas best seller, it was launched in Waterstone’s in Glasgow, and yet lucky to find a copy in Waterstone’s, the staff did not have a clue, it was not on display.
Last Thursday, the eagerly awaited Manuscript Found in Accra was published. Another international best seller from an internationally acclaimed author.
Thanks to the publisher failing to set an embargo (at least better than Aleph where they actually forgot the book was published), Waterstone’s and a few indie bookshops stole a march on Amazon and not only put it on sale, but put it on display. But why not on display in the window? No mention in e-mails from Waterstone’s, that has been published, is in their bookshops.
Last week WHSmith had Manuscript Found in Accra on display in store (if you looked hard enough) at half price. But why not on display in the window and why so few copies? In one store three copies, in another store two copies. The day before publication they did not have a clue when I asked.
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 in Barnes and Noble on day of publication. Maybe unlike WHSmith, they made it readily available.
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 on Amazon. Which only goes to show the demand and where it could be in WHSmith if they got their act together and actually sold books!
Manuscript Found in Accra No 28 in WHSmith
Manuscript Found in Accra was officially published in UK last week (Thursday 28 March 2013), though many bookshops, including Waterstone’s had it on display before the official publication date as the publisher had neglected to embargo.
Note: Published today (2 April 2013) in US.
In WHSmith it opened last week at No 28 in their charts.
This week it should be No 1, or would be if WHSmith got their act together.
It is all too easy to see why bookshops are failing.
I asked in WHSmith the day before publication, as I knew it was already available. The idiot I spoke to had not a clue what I was talking about.
I tried the next day. Could not find with the Paulo Coelho books. I was about to ask, when I found it on display, and to my pleasure was on offer at half price. I asked was these two copies all they had? No they had three, and they found a third copy hidden away.
But it was unbelievable, an international best seller, on offer at half price, the first day of publication, and all they had was three copies!
I went and talked to the manager, and suggested they got in more copies and put on display.
A couple of days later, a different branch of WHSmith, with some difficulty I found they did have Manuscript Found in Accra. Two copies! I asked why only two copies. I may as well as talk to a brick wall.
Today I went back to the first WHSmith. Thinking, maybe naively, they would have ordered and got in more copies. They had one copy!
I again asked, the same idiot I had spoken to before, why only one copy. I may as well have spoken to a brick wall.
If selling something at a discount, then you pile ‘em up high, shift a lot.
An international best seller, especially when on offer, especially when first published, you have on display in the window.
If you have something on special offer, you make sure your customers or potential customers know about the offer, that way you sell more, that is why you have it on special offer. Though in the case of WHSmith I suspect it is more a case of a failing chain desperate for cash flow.
Can anyone imagine WalMart or Tesco having a product on special offer and then keeping quiet about it, just in case they might actually sell more?
Then people wonder why bookshops are failing.
It is not simply they know nothing about books, they also know nothing about business.
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 in Barnes and Noble on day of publication. Maybe unlike WHSmith, they made it readily available.
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 on Amazon. Which only goes to show the demand and where it could be in WHSmith if they got their act together and actually sold books!
Note: When Aleph was published it was a complete and utter fiasco, not on display, staff did not know. And Aleph too was an international best seller.
The Alchemist special edition
The Alchemist is a beautiful book about magic, dreams, and the treasure we seek elsewhere and then find on our doorstep. — Madonna
I remember receiving a letter from the American publisher, HarperCollins, which said that ‘reading The Alchemist was like getting up at dawn and seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world still slept.’ — Paulo Coelho
Last year. just before Christmas, I saw a special 25th anniversary edition of The Pilgrimage, with a new forward by Paulo Coelho where he talked of sitting along the route and how many more pilgrims he saw than when he was at the spot when he walked El Camino de Santiago, a journey he describes in The Pilgrimage.
That is what I thought I saw last week, even though it clearly said, The Alchemist. It was only later, reflecting on why not a scallop shell on the front cover, did I realise my mistake.
I returned today, and asked could I change, Manuscript Found in Accra (which I can pick up any time), for the special limited edition of The Alchemist. They consented.
I am pleased I did. I mentioned seeing The Pilgrimage last year and asked they checked their stocks. Not a single copy in the entire book chain. I asked they check for The Alchemist. The result was the same, Nada.
Last year, Monetegrappa produced a special limited edition of The Alchemist pen to mark the centenary of Monetegrappa. There are only 1,987 of the pens, the year The Alchemist was published.
Manuscript Found in Accra released before publication date
In WHSmith, Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho is half price.
Buy two and give one to a friend.
Manuscript Found in Accra was published in UK today (Friday 28 March 2013), but has been available in bookshops since last week.
It is little wonder bookshops are failing. WHSmith (though I do not class as a bookshop) had a grand total of three copies in stock. I had a word with the manger and said look, you have an international best seller on your hands and you have three copies in stock, then you wonder why bookshops are failing. The staff agreed with me.
I bought two, and left one on display. But I made a mistake, I was handed a voucher that gives me 20% off any purchases.
Therefore, go in WHSmith, buy one, then use the voucher to get 20% off second copy, or buy something else, get the voucher, then get 20% off your half price books.
This offer is better than tax-dodging Amazon!
On day of publication, Manuscript Found in Accra No 28 in WHSmith best sellers chart! Will next week see it hit Number One?
One day everything will make sense …
For Annie (who will understand).
Note: Manuscript Found in Accra is already in bookshops in England.
Manuscript Found in Accra released before publication date
And a young man asked the Copta:
“Why does The Guardian always review your books, if they don’t like them?”
And the Copta answered:
“They do like. That’s why John Crace tried to imitate my style”
But the young man was not satisfied with the answer, and insisted:
“Looks like he is attacking you”.
“He is not” said the Copta. “He is a confused admirer who can’t understand why everybody else likes my books. Never judge reviewers by their reviews”
– Paulo Coelho
Response to turgid drivel by John Crace in the Grauniad of what allegedly is a review.
John Crace is a feature writer for the Guardian, a polite title for someone engaged to write drivel, one step above flipping burgers at McDonald’s for failed wanna be writers.
Farnham Parish Church
Farnham Parish Church in the snow
candles lit for Paulo and Annie
The Alchemist special edition
Manuscript Found in Accra released before publication date
It was snowing all morning, then started to melt, the paths slush, easiest to walk in the road.
Farnham there was very little snow, a little around the church, and that was it.
In the Parish Church, interesting pictures of Easter, a pity not original paintings.
I lit two candles, or I tried, I succeeded in putting out the flames for lighting the candles. I lit a candle from a candle elsewhere, then with difficulty got the two flames alight.
Two candles lit, one for my friend Paulo Coelho as thanks for the wonderful St Joseph’s Day Party he hosted in Athens, the other for my lovely friend Annie who I met at Paulo’s party.
Manuscript Found in Accra published in Spanish, in Greek, would Waterstone’s in Farnham have a copy, or even know what I was talking about? There was only one way to find out.
I walked into Waterstone’s in Lion and Lamb Courtyard. Nothing in the window, nothing on display, nothing with the other Paulo Coelho books. I asked. To my surprise, the lady knew what I was talking about, led me to a display, and there it was on display.
I was surprised they had it, let alone on display, on sale. I asked when they received it. I think she said 21 March and decided to put it on display, on sale, as though not officially due for publication until 28 March 2013, the publisher had set no embargo and they decided to put it on sale.
Makes a pleasant change for Waterstone’s to actually have a book worth reading on display, especially after the fiasco with Aleph and NeverSeconds.
Manuscript Found in Accra is available in Spain, Greece, Cyprus.
It will be published in UK (I think US too) 28 March 2013. Many bookshops in England already have on sale as they have received copies from the publisher, and the publisher neglected to impose an embargo.
Late lunch at The Barn.
