Books, Ebooks and Public Domain Books

Books, Ebooks and Public Domain Books

Books for information, education, leisure, entertainment, and most particularly Public Domain Books. I “found” one on my hard drive whilst spring cleaning and was soon enraptured.

I’m going to publish it in full here over the next few days. It will have to be split into several parts to to get past the size restrictions. Feel free to download it, copy it, print it or give it away. It would be nice if you left my details and signature boxes.

OK On with the show…..

Introduction To The Public Domain

You’ve probably heard the term “public domain” before, but like many others aren’t quite what exactly the public is all about or how it can benefit you. Perhaps you’ve overlooked the potential of the public domain simply because you feel as though the information may be outdated or no longer in demand.

Here’s the truth about the public domain however.

It is an incredibly vast library of unlimited content, material and resources that you can tap into any time you like, creating as many products from existing content as you need and best of all, some of the most compelling, moving and inspirational material ever created is available to you, all from within this extensive collection of public material.

The public domain contains timeless classics, collector paintings, artwork, and even plays, poetry, scripts, as well as works of fictions, true crime novels, mystery and suspense stories and countless other valuable creations that are still not only relevant in today’s society, but in demand.

With public domain content, you can revise, publish, modify, compile and create new collections or compilations and sell, use and giveaway this material however you see fit.

If you are just starting to explore the public domain as a viable resource for material, you will be happy to know that by using a handful of free services, you are able to browse through a virtual library of public domain works quickly and easily.

I will reveal the top sources for quality public domain content in an upcoming chapter, so that you can begin building your online empire in less time and with less hassle.

You should know that there are no costs associated with using public domain content however there are an abundance of websites that offer the service of finding and securing private domain content on your behalf.

While these services can be useful if you are looking to cut down your research time, by using the strategies contained within this Public Domain Profit guide, you will have everything you need to conduct your own personal search for available material without having to pay a membership fee, research fee, or service fee from a third party company.

For those that want a hands-free method of digging into the public domain however, I will provide a resource swipe file at the end of this guide.

So, are you ready to raid the public domain and extract quality content and material that you can use to build your very own hot selling product line?

I’ve written the Public Domain Profit guide so that it introduces you to the wealth of the public domain and shows you exactly how to utilize it to your advantage.

Consider the possibilities if you were able to swipe content from countless markets and topics without ever having to pay a dime in royalty fees.

Think about just how much easier it would be for you to expand on your existing product line if you were able to gain access to an unlimited content base of some of the most well written books ever created.

Savvy entrepreneurs have used the public domain as their primary source for free material for many years.

They have developed profitable businesses that offer re-mastered versions of classic novels, reprints of beautiful paintings and portraits, and even complete collections of imagery, poetry and fables, without ever having to pay a freelancer or investing a fortune in product creation.

And now it’s your turn to plunge deep into the public domain and begin building your own successful business following proven strategies to exploring, extracting and profiting from the public domain.

Chapter 1: The Public Domain Dissected

Before we begin evaluating the different methods of monetizing material found within the public domain, it’s important that you fully understand exactly how the public domain works, and what type of material is up for grabs.

To help you understand exactly what the public domain entails, here’s a description provided by Wikipedia:

“The Public Domain is a range of abstract materials, commonly referred to as intellectual property which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore “public property” and available for anyone to use for whatever purpose”.

To clarify however, not everything that fails to offer a copyright is available for public use, and if you make the mistake of using content or material that is the respective property of its developer without validating that the material is open to the public domain, you may end up getting into trouble for copyright infringement.

Here’s the key to determining whether material is part of the public domain (and available to use) or not:

1: Material that was created in or after 1978 is automatically protected and can NOT be freely used until 70 years after the author’s death.

There is a law that was created in 1989 that protects developers from having their content and material used even if they have failed to protect their work via a copyright or trademark.

This means that anything created during or after 1978 is not available to be used in any way, regardless of whether the author or developer protected their work.

That being said, developers, authors, artists and others are able to donate their material to the public domain, freeing up any restrictions so that it can be used by others without concern over copyright infringement.

In order to identify whether material is available for distribution, modification and resale/reprint however, you will need to conduct an individual search for all material created in or after 1989 and not assume that it is freely available.

This is very important! There are many people who mistakenly believe that material that does not showcase a valid copyright is not protected. Once again, any material created IN or AFTER 1978 is automatically protected by the law, regardless if the actual developer took action in personally protecting it.

2: Works that were created prior to 1923 is of public use and is automatically placed within the public domain.

If you are interested in obtaining material that is free of any copyright and aren’t interested in doing a lot of research in validating whether material can or cannot be used, focus your search on material that was created prior to 1923 as it is part of the public domain and will be freely available to you.

3: Works that were created from 1923 – 1963 MAY be protected by copyright if renewed, however a large portion of material created during this time is available within the public domain. You will have to individually verify a document’s copyright prior to using it if it were created during this time frame.

Recap:

Material created on January 1, 1978 or after is automatically protected by copyright until 70 years after the author has passed away.

Material created and published prior to 1923 is within the public domain.

Material created between 1923 – 1963 MAY be protected by copyright if the publisher renewed the protection.

When published with a copyright notice © or “Copyright [dates] by [author/owner]” – copyright protection lasts 28 years and could be renewed for an additional 67 years for a total of 95 years. If not renewed, now in public domain.

If it sounds complicated, rest assured that it is actually quite easy to locate public domain material that is available for free use, however it is important that you understand the different types of public domain content as well as the protection and laws associated with material created during specific time frames, so that you know exactly how to verify whether material can or cannot be used.

If you are interested in learning more about copyright protection, check out

http://library.dts.edu.Pages/RM/Helps/copyright.shtml or

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

In the next chapter, I will show you exactly how to begin your own search into the public domain library quickly and easily.

Before we get to that however, there are a few last minute things you should know about the public domain.

Material that is free from copyright can be used in ANY way you wish, including by taking existing material and repackaging it, modifying it, adding in additional content or imagery, translating the information into additional languages, reprinting images, photos, posters or paintings, and of course, selling public domain material “as is”.

There is yet another thing you can do with public domain material that makes it even more powerful in building your own brand or business.

It’s called “derivative work” and it is a method of recreating existing public domain content by incorporating your own material as well as existing material so that it’s a unique collection, book or piece.

When you do this, the portion of the material that you created is instantly protected, while the portion of content you extracted from the public domain continues to be available for use.

This is a very smart method of creating fresh, new products by blending existing content with your own unique material, so that you can present it as a new creation, revised or improved product, and one that cannot be directly replicated as your portion of the work belongs exclusively to you.

One thing to keep in mind as well, is that if you wish to prevent someone from taking an exact copy of material that you have pulled from the public domain and are selling online, is by following the “minimal creativity” requirement, which means that you must add a substantial amount of original content to the works, in order to claim a valid copyright.

Minimal Creativity requirement prevents people from pulling material from the public domain, ‘as is’, and then claiming copyright to the work.

In order to place a valid copyright on the content that you use from the public domain, consider updating the language so it’s easier to understand, or add in images, a foreword, and even edit or re-order text entirely.

You can also build a business selling imagery, prints and paintings that are taken from the public domain and reprinted, into wall art, posters, postcards, business cards or images and graphics used on websites, banners, and even advertisements.

One company that has been doing this successfully for many years can be found at http://www.AntiqueReprints.com

Antique Reprints extracts paintings from the public domain and offers reprints to collectors who are interested in expanding their collections.

While the material costs absolutely nothing (as it’s already created and available within the public domain) their only cost is in the actual reprinting and shipping itself. A very viable business that even a start-up entrepreneur could tackle!

We will cover the top resources for finding the most valuable public domain in the next chapter.

In a while crocodile

Philip
http://philipjubb.com
http://internationalarticledirectory.com/
http://certainscripts.com

A Fun Fact...


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