Yes, he will increase his sales by introducing more people to his works, but if you really think about it, placing his books online (check his own website out too!) in various languages in pdf format really does more than that… it lets people learn more about his theories regarding life and how it should be lived.

That’s what he’s doing for us…making sure his works are accessible to as many people as possible. A great majority of people can go access a computer and use it for an hour or two a day and read a part of the book and learn something knew. Even if it is in a third-world country and they only ever manage to read a couple of pages of one of his books, many people might actually employ his philosophy into their lives…and be better for it. It sure beats buying a book when a great part of your salary might go towards it!

Other authors say they want people to learn how to live better (take Rhonda Byrne, the author of “The Secret” for example), but they make their books far more expensive than any of Paulo Coelho’s novels. However, they make people pay to watch the video format of the book or pay for the book itself. You can only get around that with pirated copies of the book online, which I don’t think they’re too happy with.

Great work, Mr. Coelho!