How to Make Money with Public Domain Content

Movies such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and The Blue Lagoon started out as public domain works, long forgotten until a movie producer resurrected them, modernized them a bit, and made them into money-making hits. But, you don't have to be Walt Disney or Randal Kleiser to capitalize on this treasure-trove. Even the "little guy" (or gal) can use public domain works in many ways to make money.

First, let's discuss what a public domain work is. Any work, such as a piece of art, writing, music or an invention is said to be in the public domain when it is not protected by a patent or a copyright, and may be freely used by anyone. For the purposes of this article, we will limit the discussion to written works. This applies whether the work was never patented or put under copyright, or when the existing copyright has expired. There are no laws which restrict its use by the public at large, so it is "fair game". Usually, these works are older pieces written in the 1930's or before; however, there are some newer public domain works written as late as the mid-1990's. Also, there are some works that cannot ever be protected by copyright, such as U.S. Government works, unadorned ideas and facts, extemporaneous speeches, and standard plots and stock characters.

Where do you go to find such works? One great online resource I have found is Many Books http://www.manybooks.net . This site is a source of free e-books available for download; the site's owner asks for a small donation to help defray the cost of hosting. I would recommend that you pay close attention to the "how-to" books, as these titles seem to be the best sellers.