How To Find Public Domain Works
If you have never heard of the Public Domain, you are in for a real treat. You probably already know that most US Government Printing Office publications are in the Public Domain. This is because these publications were funded with US taxpayer money so WE ALL own them, and as long as there is not a copyright notice on the publication we can reprint and sell them. That is pretty common knowledge -- but did you know there are many, many, MANY regular paper and ink books on popular topics that are also in the Public Domain? Because of US Copyright laws, just about any book published in the US BEFORE 1923 is IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN! And, almost any book published in the US between 1923 and 1963 is also in the public domain IF its copyright was not renewed within 28 years after the date of publication. This means if you find a book in the public domain on a particular hot niche market, you can LEGALLY copy, republish and sell the book! There are several places online where you can review the US Copyright code for yourself including the
US Government Copyright Office Website.
A great resource to find books that are in the Public Domain is Abe-Books.com. Abe Books is a network of used book dealers and you can search the inventory of ALL the book dealers in the network by using their
search tool.
Tole Painting is a folk art method of painting decorative designs on tin or other metal objects, such as utensils, coffeepots, and similar household items. It was popular years ago and is starting to see a resurgence of interest. Using the link to the search tool above enter the keyword phrase "tole painting" into the keyword box. Also, enter the date range 1800-1922 in the Published Date. Why enter a date range? Because if a book was published BEFORE 1923 (in the US) it is definitely in the Public Domain and no copyright search is required to see if the work was renewed. Now if you would like to search for non-copyrighted works published between 1923 and 1963, you can research the copyright and renewal information online but it is quite a bit more complicated. If you are really serious about learning to create an income from public domain works I recommend the resources listed at the end of this article.
In this particular example there is one book listed: TOLE-PAINTED GARDEN FURNITURE (ISBN:0806972858) Bingham, Areta Bookseller: AVON HILL BOOKS (Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.) [Shipping Rates & Speeds] Price: US$ 16.00 Book Description: Sterling 1902. As New in As New dust jacket. Illustrated with colored photographs. worksheets and detailed patterns. ; 4to; 144 pp. Binding is Hardcover. Bookseller Inventory #9777 (Note: your search results will vary depending on the current inventory of the book dealers) This looks like a great book on the subject of Tole Painting! We can see that it meets the criteria for a Public Domain work: It was published in 1902 -- well before the 1923 "drop dead" date for published books. And it was published in the US -- Cambridge, MA to be exact. It is very important to only look for books published in the US as copyright and Public Domain laws vary with other countries. There is no doubt this book is in the Public Domain. Now, you can purchase this book from the dealer for $16.00 plus shipping and handling if you wish but there is another way to get this book for free if you are limited on funds. Print out all the information about this book: the title, author, publication date, publisher, ISBN number and call your local library. Tell them you would like to request this book through Inter library Loan. They will search for the book through a network of participating libraries and if one of the libraries has a copy, they will loan it to your library branch who will then loan it to you. Now, since this is a loaned book there is a limit on how long you can keep it -- usually 10 days -- but that will give you enough time to check it out and determine if it looks like something you would like to sell. Then you can CAREFULLY scan the loaned book or purchase a copy from an Abe.com listed used book dealer. Now another resource for public domain books that you can actually read online is
Project Gutenberg.
It also lists more good copyright information and resources. Project Gutenberg also has a great page about all the various uses people come up with for the free books they find on the site, and you can access it by
clicking here.
Now it's time to turn your Public Domain Information into a product to sell.First you need to get your book into a sellable format.You will need a scanner that has Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. (Most do -- check your instruction manual) Set your scanner to scan each page of the book into an MS Word document. This will put the text into the Word document and allow you to edit it as needed. Once you have the book converted into digital format you can print it out or convert it into a PDF document to resell. Your republished work does not need to be fancy. People are interested in the information contained in it -- not pretty production values - but it should still look professional. You can print your pages on one side in black and white from home with a LaserJet printer or go to a copy shop that offers inexpensive do it yourself services and bring your own paper. Then you can tuck the pages into a binder or use a spiral binding system and your product is ready to ship off to the customer. You can sell these products on eBay and/or with a website. If you want to build a lasting business I would definitely build a website, and also use eBay as add on marketing. But if you need to start small eBay is a good place to start, and if your info product takes off you can create a website and sell it on the internet. You can create a great information website about your topic and then offer your manuals, patterns, ebooks, cd’s, dvd’s or other information products for sale on your site. You can also use public domain images. Just think of all wonderful images available in the public domain. Everything from old greeting cards, postcards, photos, magazine prints, book illustrations and more can be found in the public domain. But images are a little trickier to determine copyright on, so if you decide to use images I highly recommend the book How To Use Images Legally by Scott Tambert. The book is available in both hardcover and ebook download. As small business ideas go I find the possibilities for making money with this idea almost endless. In Business Idea - Public Domain Information Products, I have researched some ideas for creating products to sell from public domain information, and I also give some example websites for you to check out. And to get more ideas for this business be sure to watch this Public Domain Treasure Chest Video about how to find niches on eBay that you can supply by finding non-copyrighted works to sell. I found it interesting how the author mentions on his website that even Turner Classic Movies and Walt Disney have used public domain works to become the giants they are today. Another resource is The Public Domain Income Plan, and this couple does a hot business on eBay and Amazon. They provide lots of information including how to sell your Public Domain ebooks on Kindle and eBay, how to make cd’s, dvd’s and more, and how to research eBay for ideas. Re-publishing and re-packaging public domain information is probably one of the easiest and least expensive businesses to get started. But there are some obstacles to doing it successfully. So I would recommend doing your research, and maybe investing in one of these recommended resources so you have great guidance right out of the starting gate.
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