6:19 AM
Dear Entrepreneur:
A few years ago I didn’t even know this opportunity existed. Today I’m up to speed and I’ve become somewhat of a “guru” in the field.
I’ve made money in this market so I’m qualified to show you how it can work for you. I’m talking about making money by selling information in the public domain.
Actually, that’s not accurate.
I’m talking about “repackaging” and selling public domain information the right way!
And get this…..there are more than 78 million works in the public domain!
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Public Domain Information Can Be Resold for a Profit!
In addition, selling public domain information is perfectly legal, and you don’t need special permission to do it. You can use public domain works and information to enhance your own information products. Or you can use public domain works to develop new books, special reports, ebooks, recordings or manuscripts.
The Truth About Public Domain Information
Any written or recorded work not covered by copyright registration is considered to be in the public domain. It’s that simple!
This includes works created before 1922, works created for public use, and works which have fallen into public domain because their copyrights expired.
Generally speaking, public domain falls into four main areas:
1) Generic information like facts, numbers, ideas, titles, blank forms, etc.
2) Works granted or donated to the public domain. (Yes, in some cases copyright holders will simply make their work available to anyone to use. Just one example is P.T. Barnum’s autobiography.)
3) Works by the government or its agents. (This is an absolutely amazing archive and library on its own)
4) Formerly copyrighted works that have fallen into public domain or lost their copyright due to a number of different circumstances.
What’s the Deal with Copyright Expiration?
In the United States, all copyrights, trademarks, and patents are issued for a finite term. When this expires, the work or invention is released into the public domain.
In most countries, patents expire 20 years after they are filed.
A trademark registration may be renewed and remain in force indefinitely, provided it is still being used. Copyrights can be a bit more complex.
Copyrights usually expire (in most countries) when all of the following conditions are satisfied:
• The work was created and first published before January 1, 1923, or at least 95 years before Jan. 1 of the current year, whichever is later.
• The last surviving author died at least 70 years before Jan. 1 of the current year.
• No Berne Convention signatory has passed a perpetual copyright on the work.
• Neither the United States nor the European Union has passed a copyright term extension since these conditions were last updated. (This must be a condition, because the exact numbers in the other conditions depend on the state of the law at any given moment.)
Little-Known Secrets for Selling Public Domain Information on the Internet Quickly and Easily
In order to sell public domain works online you’ll need to find out if the copyright has expired on a particular work. If the copyright has expired, you can repackage and sell this work – on the Internet or anywhere!
To make sure the copyright on an older work HAS NOT been renewed, check the U.S. Copyright Office database.
You can search the database by title, author, date, claimant, registration number, or a combination of all of these. It’s always good to double-check your results by searching in a couple of different ways, such as title, author, original publisher, etc.
If you’ve found a work in the public domain (which means the copyright has expired and has not been renewed), you’re free to sell it on the Internet!
If you think that’s great, you’ll love this…
Walt Disney, the famed animator, entrepreneur and inventor exploited the public domain big time.
Walt Disney built a billion-dollar empire using works which had fallen into the public domain. How cool is that! He based his entire business on the Grimm Fairy Tales! Grimm Fairy Tales were super popular in the early 1800′s. Disney knew these were wonderful stories.
He also discovered by searching (just like you) that these stories had been added to the “public domain treasure”.
Disney changed the names of the characters and updated the stories, but he essentially copied them – and made a fortune retelling (and reselling!) them to a new generation.
“Where Can I Find Public Domain Works to Sell Right Now?!”
I’ve enclosed a ton of resources to help you find works in the public domain. I use these same resources so you KNOW they’re legit.
The first time I discovered these resources I spent an entire weekend scouring the archives and databases! In fact, I developed my first public domain information product based on this research (a book on natural cures and remedies).
Here you go…….
1. U.S. Copyright Office Database (more than 30,000,000 items!)
2. Project Gutenberg (16,000+ free e-books)
3. Classic Literature Library
4. Free Recipes (more than 12,000)
5. The Internet Public Library
6. Public Domain Books Online (more than 14,000 classic books)
7. The Internet Archive
8. Open Content Alliance (Powered by Yahoo)
9. Alibris (50 million+ new, used, and out-of-print books)
10. AbeBooks (70 million+ books from 13,000 booksellers)
There are thousands of ways to approach this business of selling public domain works. In addition, if you don’t have a product in mind, or you don’t have the time to develop one, you can partner with other entrepreneurs and sell his or her public domain products…Clickbank is a great place t start!
But I think one the first stops should be the U.S. Copyright Office database for ideas!
The Best Kept Secret for Selling Books and Specialized Information
The bestselling books of yesteryear often become bestsellers again! In other words, book selling trends tend to repeat.
This means… bestselling books in the 1930’s, 40’s or 50’s typically become best sellers again! Listen folks… there’s NOTHING new under sun.
So don’t waste your time, especially when you’re starting out in this niche trying to find “the perfect” product no one has sold before.
What’s more, try to focus on popular themes, titles, and works which match current market demands, such as making money, getting a job, learning a new trade, losing weight, getting a date, and so on.
You can find current demands on three websites, Google Trends, National Enquirer and The Wall Street Journal.
There are thousands of books, reports and essays in the public domain on:
• Making Money with Real Estate
• Wealth Producing Secrets of the Super Rich
• How to Play the Piano, Guitar, or Ukulele
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• How to Win at Blackjack (Poker, Roulette, Keno, etc.)
• How to Obtain a Million Dollar Credit Line
• How to Boost Gas Mileage
• Importing Secrets of the Chinese
• How to Attract the Opposite Sex
• How to Lose Weight
If you search eBay, ClickBank, Amazon.com for bestselling books and information products you’ll find many of them match current market demand.
The next step is to acquire a public domain work, and revise it so it’s current with today’s market.
A Public Domain Reseller’s Insider Tip
Entrepreneurs often ask me if they should re-type public domain products, or just “scan them.” Have you ever ordered an information product that was scanned? In most cases the quality is pathetic!
Granted, I’ve seen high-end scanners perform unbelievable feats. But these types of scanners are NOT cheap. The best solution, 90 percent of the time, is to re-type the book, product or document (or retain a freelancer to do it for you).
What’s more, by re-typing an information product you’ll have better control over the editing process (and there will be edits). When you “scan” a product or a book it’s much harder to revise the document.
What’s more, making PDF documents (for e-books) from a Word document is super simple….again you can do it yourself, or retain a freelancer.
Here are three programs to help you do it yourself:
PDF Creator
PrimoPDF
PlanetPDF
That’s it!
Get this….
I found a classic book on how to play blackjack from 1902!
I made some changes to it, repackaged it, found a freelance illustrator to add some images to it and the product sold like hotcakes.
Eventually I sold the “ebook rights” to an entrepreneur who offers gambling e-books and other information products on his gaming site.
So you can do the same.
If you use works from the public domain, and add content, illustrations, you can copyright the new works! Or you can simply sell the rights to someone.
It’s pretty neat. In no time flat you can be selling (or reselling) public domain works on ClickBank and on hundreds of other websites! It’s that EASY!
When it comes to launching a business one of the best things you can do is act – you can fine tune it later!
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Your Humble Host,
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(Ed Note: Marc Charles is referred to as “The King of Business Opportunities” ….and for good reason. He should be known as “The King of Legitimate Business Opportunities”…because he’s launched, bought, sold reviewed and advised on hundreds of businesses and money making opportunities. He understands legitimate opportunities. Marc has agreed supply League of Power members with crucial updates regarding legitimate business and money making opportunities.)
***** Action Strategy *****
Start searching the U.S. Copyright Office database today. Find something in the public domain which interests you and that has a current demand. If a book or work is in the public domain – which means the copyright has expired – you’re free to sell it on the Internet.
On top of that… You’re not limited to digital products either (but that’s my preference)! You can also sell an actual book from the public domain on Amazon.com, or dozens of other high-traffic book sites. The downside of physical books they will often be out of print or in short supply, so digital content is usually the best approach.
You could offer best-selling public domain works on a website, through Clickbank, on Amazon.com (via the e-books library) or hundreds of other highly targeted digital bookstores or marketplaces.
Heck….you can even sell digital products on eBay now!
You could also build a website around a particular public domain work.
You can market your public domain work by purchasing keywords in the top search engines, by advertising in targeted e-mail newsletters, and by sending promotions to your own in-house subscriber lists.
These marketing approaches would enable you to drive interested traffic to a website or sell the product “as is” on sites like eBay.
****Valuable Resources****
ClickBank
Digital Book Index (72,000+ free books, documents, and e-books)
PlanetPDF (100’s of free classic e-books)
eBookMall (thousands of free e-books in dozens of categories)
Authorama (Hundreds of books and e-books – classic literature)
Federal Citizen Information Center (more than 25,000 FREE reports)
eBooks n Bytes (FREE e-books)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Google Print Library Project (massive resource!)