1985, he published a book "practical handbook of vampire research", but it was later withdrawn because he thought the book was "of poor quality". 1977, when he traveled all over the world, he joined a Catholic organization called Ram. 1986, according to the requirements of the organization, paulo coelho walked nearly 600 kilometers along one of the three pilgrimage routes in the Middle Ages, crossing the Pyrenees from southern France, and made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Postel, Galicia, Spain. Based on this pilgrimage, he published "Prophecy of Pilgrimage" in the following year, telling all kinds of experiences and inspirations he got during this trip, which is full of religious color. This documentary was a great success. By 1999, it had been published in version 1 17. A year later, inspired by a story in Arabian Nights, paulo coelho created and published the fable "The Fantasy Journey of the Shepherd Boy" (formerly known as "The Alchemist").

This work translated into Chinese with only100000 words did not sell well at first. Neither publishers nor writers expected that the book "The Fantasy Journey of the Shepherd Boy" later made Luoyang paper expensive and ranked first in the Brazilian bestseller list for six consecutive years. By 1999, the book had been printed to 152 in Brazil, with more than 2 million copies, making it the best-selling book in Brazilian history. The Fantasy Journey of the Shepherd is not only popular in Brazil, but also makes the writer famous in China. It has also been translated into many languages and published on five continents, ranking first in the best-selling list in the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Chile, Mexico, Spain and 18 countries including Portugal. So far, this book has sold 9.5 million copies abroad and has become a best seller in the world. The Fantasy Journey of the Shepherd Boy tells the story of life dream: Santiago, a Spanish shepherd boy, had the same dream twice, dreaming that he could find a batch of buried treasures near the Egyptian pyramids. He crossed the ocean to Africa, crossed the endless Sahara desert and experienced many adventures along the way. Finally, he saw the pyramid and realized where the treasure was.

The Fantasy Journey of the Shepherd is a fable about pursuing dreams and perfecting life, which enlightens people that it takes courage, wisdom, persistence and acceptance to realize their dreams. This symbolic work has been well received all over the world, and the evaluation is almost incalculable. This is also the only book with more languages than the Bible. 1997, China Literature Publishing House published a book called "The Goldsmith", which was translated from English, but it didn't seem to attract people's attention. Whether this is caused by cultural differences between the East and the West is unknown.

Since then, paulo coelho has successively published the halter (1990), The Maid of the Lord God (1992), I sat by the Piedra River and cried (1994) and The Fifth Mountain (1996). His works have been translated into 39 languages and published in 74 countries and regions. By July of 1998, more than 210 million copies had been sold. In just a few years, he became the best-selling writer in the world and the Latin American writer with the most readers after Garcia Marquez, the Nobel Prize in Literature winner and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.