How to Profit from Works in the Public Domain by Bob Moore There are seven sections to this report:

Section 1: Profiting from the Public Domain Section 2: How to Determine Whether Information Published in the United States Is in the Public Domain Section 3: How to Determine if a Work Published Outside the United States Is in the Public Domain Section 4: Public Domain Niche Idea #1 Section 5: Public Domain Niche Idea #2 Section 6: Public Domain Niche Idea #3 Section 7: Public Domain Niche Idea #4 Please enjoy. It's my sincerest hope that you find something in this report tha t is of value to you. I'm sure you will. Profiting From The Public Domain By Bob Moore Quick author's note: After reading this quick report (or before) I can give you an endless list of resources to find public domain content on virtually ANY sub ject. Just shoot me a quick email. Send it to bobmoore62@yahoo.com and put "PD List" in the subject line. Yes, I'm a real person just trying to help others m ake a buck. This is my main personal email address. Let's help each other. So what exactly is the public domain? Basically, it's any work that no longer ha s any copyright attached to it. For example, anything written prior to 1923 is a utomatically a part of the public domain. For example, a work by a favorite auth or from the 1800's is in the public domain. You can find tons of books, images, short stories, music, movies. . .whatever your imagination can come up with. Okay, I know what you're asking. So what? How does that affect me? This is how. Did you know that any of those materials you can locate that are royalty free ar e yours for the taking for you to do anything you wish? Wait. Does that mean I c an get stuff for free and resell it? That's right. What could be better? Find it and sell it on eBay. Find it and sell it on your own website. Find it and sell it however you wish. But here's the catch. If you want to sell clip art (or anything else) from the p ublic domain, make sure it's not a collection someone else put together. In that respect, it may be subject to copyright. That can work to your advantage, thoug h. It means you can put together a collection of short stories, for example, and copyright it because it's your collection. So where do I get all of this wonderful material and be assured it doesn't belon g to anyone else? That's a matter for another article. Right now, I just want to acquaint you with the possibilities that exist. Again, anything before 1923 is fair game. Anything after that and you have to do a little research, but it's not tough. We'll get into the research part another time. But just know this -- it's even possible to get materials written within

hours of now that are in the public domain. The source? The federal government! Why? Because materials put out by government agencies are meant for public consu mption. It's a beautiful thing. Once you're turned on to the sources, all you need is an eBay account, and you c an start making money in no time. The biggest thing, though, is just to make sur e what you have doesn't belong to anyone else. Later on, I'll reveal some of tho se sources to you. Imagine being able to download episodes of Bonanza, for example, burning them on a DVD, and selling them! I know of a guy who found an old (I mean old) professi onal wrestling course, set up a simple website, and sells nothing else. And he's making a very good living off of it. You can too. I'll be revealing some other tips and tricks in later articles. The public domai n truly is a wonderful thing. I was amazed when I was first shown this. Imagine making money on things you can get for free. Too cool! More later. To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221 How To Determine Whether Information Published In The United States Is In The Pu blic Domain You've found some materials you'd like to use, but you're not sure if, in fact, they're part of the public domain. You think you have a seller for your niche, b ut you're just not sure. This article will focus on materials published in the U nited States, because the rules aren't universally followed worldwide. The first rule is easy. Was it published before 1923? If so, you're good. It's d efinitely in the public domain. You can start using it for whatever reason you w ish and charge whatever you wish. Was it published between 1923 and 1963? Now it gets a little stickier. Anything published after 1923 is going to require some homework. If published during thes e years, it had copyright protection for 28 years. If that copyright was renewed , it would have received an additional 47 years, which has since been increased to 67 years. If it wasn't renewed after the initial 28 years, it's now in the pu blic domain. Do your homework on this one to verify copyright protection. Now we move chronologically to the years 1964 to 1977. Copyright here will last 28 years from the original publication date. There is no renewal required, so th e copyright automatically kicks in for another 67 years. Here's the catch: It ha d to be published with a valid copyright notice in order to be protected. It doe sn't mean it's not in the public domain after the initial 28 years. Again, do yo ur homework. Here's an interesting one. What if it was created before January 1, 1978 but nev er published? This one is simple. Copyright continues from the date of the autho r's death plus 70 years or the date December 31, 2002, whichever is the greater of the two. Okay, what if it was created before January 1, 1978, but it was published betwee n that date and December 31, 2002? Now what? This one is pretty simple, too. Cop yright continues from the date of the author's death plus 70 years or December 3 1, 2047, whichever is greater. Here's the last one for works created in the United States. What if it was creat

ed on or after January 1, 1978? It's that author's date of death plus 70 years. If it happens to be a corporate piece, it's 95 years from publication or 120 yea rs from creation, whichever is shorter. There you have it. That takes care of works created/published in the United Stat es and their status in the public domain. In later articles, I'll focus on how w orks created and/or used internationally are affected by copyright. For now, jus t be aware that because a US work published prior to 1923 is in the public domai n here, it doesn't mean that rule applies elsewhere. More later. To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221 How To Determine If A Work Published Outside The United States Is In The Public Domain In a previous article I discussed how to determine if something published within the United States is part of the public domain. Here's a question: What if it's not? The first one is easy. If it was published prior to July 1, 1909, it is in the p ublic domain in the U.S. If it was published between July 1, 1909 and July 1, 1922 with a copyright notic e, that work is now in the public domain. If publication occurred between 1923-1977 with a copyright notice outside the Un ited States, copyright protection exists for 95 years from publication. That mea ns the earliest a work from this time period could enter the public domain is 20 18. If the work was published in 1977, it's not eligible for the public domain u ntil 2072. Let's say a work was published between July 1, 1909 and July 1, 1977 without a c opyright notice. In this instance, the work will not enter the public domain for 70 years following the death of the author. If it was republished between 1978 and 2003, copyright extends to December 31st, 2047. If it was not republished, d o your homework. The last instance is a work published outside the U.S. after 1978 either with or without a copyright notice. Here it would be protected for 70 years after the d eath of the author. Here's the catch: What if the author is anonymous? Good ques tion. In this case, it's protected for 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation. . .whichever ends soonest. As with anything involving copyright, it's best to consult a professional if you ever have any questions. It's always best to err on the side of caution than it is to have any fines eat into the profits of your business. Keep in mind that copyright laws are very complex, they vary by country, and the y change quite frequently, particularly as the laws relate to corporate works, u nauthored works, works that are considered non-literary, and those that are unpu blished. Copyright in the United States is a fairly straightforward thing, even though it is subject to change as well. International copyright law is a differe nt story. It can be a little trickier, so always do your research. Just because something is part of the public domain in the U.S. doesn't mean the same rule holds true internationally. It's always best to check the laws of the country in question just to be sure. A quick search on Google will probably yie ld you the information you require.

To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221 Public Domain Niche Idea #1 In an earlier article I focused on what the public domain is and how it can be u sed to your advantage. Over the course of the next several articles, I'm going t o focus on potential niches you could explore to turn public domain materials in to cash. Here's idea #1. But first a little background. I'm a teacher by trade. I teach a dvanced English to seniors and sophomores by day and scour the world of public d omain by night. You see, my seniors take a test at the end of the year that is c reated by an organization known as the College Board. I have no idea what the te st will look like. But I do know that it will incorporate a number of classic pi eces of literature. Knowing that parents of these students might find this a handy study aid, here's what I came up with: Why not download and burn to a CD or DVD a number of class ic pieces of fiction that may be referenced on the test? These could be any titl es (as long as they're before 1923) and would, of course, be found in the public domain. Imagine having access to a wealth of titles available in a single locat ion. Not only the parents, but also the students find this very valuable. Create a similar CD, throw it on eBay, and see what happens. By the way, if you're a teacher, don't make the offer to your students. Very wro ng!! The public domain can be your best friend. . .as long as it's used correctl y. As a companion to this idea, poetry would work really well, too. It doesn't even have to be just parents and students who would be interested. There are people who like to read and would appreciate having a collection readily available. I just mention the collection thing as an idea. It doesn't have to be just books or poems. You can pretty much bundle anything -- books, poems, musical scores, short stories, whatever your imagination can come up with. As I mentioned in an earlier article, the public domain is just such a vast reso urce, you'll never be lacking for information to use. So idea number one is simply to bundle similar pieces of information. Then, what ever it is you're bundling effectively becomes your niche. If you take my book i dea, the niche would be people who like classical literature. If you're selling poems, the niche is people who love to read and/or write poetry. Selling sheet m usic would be targeting classical music lovers or those who are fond of Broadway plays. You get the idea. There is so much available in the public domain that you really are only limited by your imagination. To spur that imagination, I'll give you a number of ideas in the days to come. To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221 Public Domain Niche Idea #2 When it comes to using the public domain, this is probably one of my favorite i

deas as far as niches go. . .first, because I love the public domain, and two, b ecause I love to cook. This is a perfect union. Why not take old cookbooks in the public domain and refurbish and rebrand them? You can find recipes everywhere. Truth be told, this could be one of the most pr ofitable niches. Why? Well, if you're using the public domain to target a niche, you want one that's always in style. What's more in style than cooking? Think a bout it. People have to eat!! What you're doing is providing alternatives to the same old, run-of-the-mill meals people have been serving for years. And the recipes you can find are endless. But I'm going to let you in on a littl e secret. Do you know why recipes are so plentiful? They don't necessarily have to be in the public domain. The list of ingredients is not protected by copyrigh t. What is? That would be the individual comments of the writer. Think about it. Have you ever looked for a recipe online, found it on more than one site, and they were exactly the same? Bingo! What I would suggest is rewordi ng the directions just to cover yourself. And if you find a really old recipe, y ou may need to tweak the ingredients, especially if you come across one that's n ot readily available today. Just let your imagination go wild. Here are a few suggestions for your own publi c domain cookbook: * * * * * * * * Amazing Amish Recipes 101 Delightful Desserts Mouth Watering Italian Dishes Make Aphrodisiacs Today, and Enjoy Them Tonight Crockpot Creations One Dish Meals Sumptuous Sides Daring Drinks

You get the idea. Let your imagination go wild. The lesson here is to give peopl e what they want. . .and charge for it! The recipes are so easy to find. All you have to do is rewrite them, put your own personality into them, rebrand, and go on to the next book. You don't have to have cookbooks dedicated to one type of food, either. That's just an example. If you want to do that, do it. If you want to create a book that has more varied recipes, do it. You can't go wrong. There are so many resources available that you could literally "publish" a compl etely different public domain cookbook once a month for the rest of your life -and I don't care how old you are!! The point is to give people what they want, and they want to eat. Thanks to the power of the public domain, cookbooks are no w easier than ever to "write." To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221 Public Domain Niche Idea #3 I don't think you'll come across too many people who don't like either movies or TV shows. The public domain can be a gold mine here. There are a number of sites that, with a little bit of searching, can provide yo u with movies, clips, commericals, TV shows, and more -- certainly more than you would probably ever need. If, for example, you were going to focus on movies, you could package them by ge

nre, actor/actress, director, year. . .whatever you want. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. There's one movie in the public doma in that has been a good seller for me, particularly on eBay. I think part of the fascination and rebirth of the film came from the 1990's comedy smash Seinfeld, as Jerry mentioned it a number of times and once referred to it as "possibly th e worst science fiction movie ever made." If you're a Seinfeld fan, you know, of course, I'm referring to Plan 9 from Outer Space. But there are so many other m ovies out there, it'll make your head spin. The great thing about this niche is that it has so many possibilities. If you wa nt to branch out from film, you can focus on classic TV shows. Imagine being abl e to repackage shows such as Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, Dragnet, The Dick Van Dyke Show, even certain episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. And they're all avai lable in the public domain. You say you don't want to focus on movies and TV shows? Maybe too much competiti on? Okay. Here are a couple more narrow niches. How about classic TV commercials ? How about movie trailers? What about stock video? Believe it or not, you can e ven package and sell drive-in commercials. That's right. I said drive-in commerc ials. Are people buying them? You better believe they are! The cool thing about this niche is that there are so many possibilities. I know it sounds like a cliche to say you're only limited by your imagination, but in t his case, it's truer than ever. Pretty much every computer sold today has CD/DVD burning software pre-installed. Buy a few disks, scour the internet for sites t hat offer public domain movies, and you're in business. Test various genres. Maybe you'll find movies work best for you, especially sinc e you're providing titles that aren't readily available. Maybe you'll find a nic he in the classic TV market. Just be secure in the knowledge that whatever direc tion you choose, you'll have a wealth of public domain products at your disposal . To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221 Public Domain Niche Idea #4 Here is yet another idea for a niche marketer looking to profit from the public domain. I've already discussed books, recipes, and video. This article will focu s on audio. As is the case with other areas, there is a vast array of audio available in the public domain. And I'm not just talking about music, either. . .although you ce rtainly could find enough to sustain a healthy business. You certainly could com e up with a number of musical genres around which to build a business, but I wou ld say classical music would be one of the best places to start. That doesn't me an you can't/won't be successful in other areas. You just have to look. There is certainly enough out there. Here's an interesting offshoot. Don't just focus on music. Audio books are HUGE! Many people like the convenience of listening to a self-help book while in the car on the way to work. Perhaps there is a work of fiction someone has always wa nted to read but has no time. Audio book to the rescue. An example that I've sol d in the past is Jack London's Call of the Wild. I figured it was a title many p eople had heard of, but they (for whatever reason) just didn't get a chance to r ead it. I downloaded it, burned it to a CD, and listed it on eBay. Guess what. I t sold. And you can do that over and over again with the same title. You just ne

ver know what someone may be looking for, and the neat thing is that with the pu blic domain you can deliver. Now I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Up to this point, in the article s I've written thus far, I haven't divulged any sources. I'm feeling generous th is Mother's Day (and my mother would want me to be generous), so I'm going to th row you a little bone here. An awesome source of public domain audio is a compan y called Librivox. All the audio books I've come across are well done, professio nal recordings. This, in fact, could be the only source you would need for audio (especially books). Check it out. Just like with the film niche, there are so many things you can do with audio. O ne additional that I failed to mention would be sound effects. Do you think ther e would be a market for that? I don't see why not. I know you certainly wouldn't have difficulty finding them. Whatever you can come up with in the area of audio, the public domain is sure to have it. Happy hunting. To begin profiting from the public domain, visit: http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/dap/a/?a=221