It’s easy to think that someone like Paulo Coelho–who’s written countless timeless stories, has sold millions and millions of books to so many readers worldwide, and is easily one of the most loved authors of our time–has already too much on his plate and too little time to interact with his fans.
His readers span generations and geographic boundaries, and I can imagine what his staff and/or volunteers need to do on a daily basis just to keep up with all the fan mail, tweets, plurks, and other permutations of his social network messages. Heck, even I already have waaaay too much on my plate trying to keep track of all of my boss‘s correspondence and social network messages, and even he’s not Paulo Coelho (even if they share the same birthday–a fact that I am tickled about).
Regardless of how Mr. Coelho manages his online presence, I gotta hand it to the guy for making it all feel so real and sincere. There are a lot of things that you can fake and pay your way through–especially if you have the budget to simulate social interaction (and I’m pointing this pun at our politicos back home)–but sincerity you can never, EVER fake. Not even on the World Wide Web.
Two years ago, when I reposted one of my favorite blog posts featuring quotes from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, someone from his team immediately commented on my blog and said that “Paulo Coelho has gotten wind of your blog and would like to repost your entry on his site.” Of course I was tickled! I messaged her, Aart Hilal, back and said I’d be thrilled to have my stuff posted on his site. I wasn’t sure if it was a prank message, but I was such a Paulo Coelho fan that I was sure that message was for real.
Lo and behold, a couple of days later, Mr. Coelho himself emailed me to ask for my blog entry. He also told me to reply to his private email address with a certain subject header so he’d know that it was the email he was asking for. A couple of weeks after that, my blog entry came out on his blog. I was on Cloud Nine.
Shortly thereafter, I composed a super short story inspired by his autobiographical anthology of essays, Like the Flowing River. I sent him an email with the story, and again he emailed back thanking me for the story and saying a few nice words about it. For a fan and a fellow writer, THAT was validation enough.
It wasn’t our last online interaction, and since that wonderful series of encounters I’ve only come to love the icon and his works more. So because it was his birthday today, I made sure to greet him through Twitter. By the end of the day I received an update with this photo below:
So, you see… It doesn’t matter to me if it’s not he himself who’s handling all of his emails; it doesn’t matter to me that I’m just one of the countless faceless names out there who interacts with him online. Even if I don’t ever get to meet him or get one of my Coelho books signed by him I’m still going to be an avid fan.
One thing we can learn from this man who’s already touched millions of lives through his words is that he knows how to show sincere gratitude and love to his fans–regardless of technology, means, and form. And, guess what? It only makes us love him back even more.
, twist!
