How to claim your FREE (unexploited) Public Domain work!

by Philip John

Posted: 15 years ago 40 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi Warriors - this is an opportunity simply too good to pass up!

The Boston Public Library in conjunction with OpenLibrary.org are scanning Public Domain books on demand and for FREE!

The potential for your online business could be HUGE

This is how you do it:

1. Go to OpenLibrary and create an account with them.
2. Use their search function to search for a book/keyword within your niche.
3. If the book is located at the Boston Public Library and hasn't been scanned yet, you can request a scan by going to "Refine Results" on the right hand side column and then under the "Full Text" header click the link "Scannable"
4. This page will show a refined list books at the Boston Public Library that have yet to be scanned (related to your chosen search term).
5. Click the link to your chosen book(s)
6. You will be taken to a descriptive webpage for that book and there will be a "Scan This Book" button on the left-hand side. Click this and you are away!
7. After 3-5 days you will receive an email follow-up with a link to the newly-digitized copy, complete with PDF, online flip book and best of all - fully editable text ready to use on your next project - brilliant!

http://openlibrary.org

All the best
-Phil

PS: heres a good book you may want to go request...

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL13454124M

#claim #domain #free #public #public domain #public domain books #unexploited #work

JerryIL 15 years ago

Very good info...are you currently working in this area.??
Thanks for sharing..!

Jerry
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- Philip John 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by JerryIL
  
  Very good info...are you currently working in this area.??
  Thanks for sharing..!
  
  Jerry
  
  Hi Jerry,
  
  Yeah I am, actually. I use Public Domain material in almost all of my projects - whether that be as filler content, bonuses or as the main product feature - it's been invaluable to my online business.
  
  Happy that you've got some use out of this!
  
  -Phil
  
  Thanks
  
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testaccount9998 15 years ago

I'm sure Kneb already knows about this but it should be an addendum to his ebook.

Awesome Find!
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onera 15 years ago

But most of the books will be almost 100 years old. Unless a book is fiction or fundamental science and math, what value does it have?
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- lakshaybehl 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by onera
  
  But most of the books will be almost 100 years old. Unless a book is fiction or fundamental science and math, what value does it have?
  
  These two in themselves have big market.
  
  Start a membership site offering one of these every week for $20/month... Limit it to 100 people. An easy $2K/mo. Takes Less than an hour on your end each week. An hour for $500, not bad.
  
  And the point is that they can use it in multiple ways. You can start tens of these memberships and retire on just a couple of hours of work everyday... Totally scalable and automatable.
  
  -Lakshay
  
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  Marhelper 15 years ago
  
  I am all over that, thanks a lot for the tip. This will certainly come in handy.
  
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Philip John 15 years ago

No worries Marhelper - glad to help!
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- Kay King 15 years ago
  
  I'm curious why you recommend that one particular book which is described on the site as....
  
  This book is designed to help women turn their domestic skills into earning power.
  
  Written in 1903 - would you use it as a novelty item?
  
  kay
  
  Thanks
  
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  Philip John 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Kay King
  
  I'm curious why you recommend that one particular book which is described on the site as....
  
  Written in 1903 - would you use it as a novelty item?
  
  kay
  
  Okay Kay, Ill bite
  
  This book:
  
  "How to make money: Eighty novel and practical suggestions for untrained women's work, based on actual experience"
  
  in my opinion is a great example of a Public Domain work that you could quite easily take and turn into a "how to make some extra make money at home" type eBook or another product.
  
  You would obviously need to do a flip on the title - take the antiquated focus off it and refocus the angle.
  
  I've personally used similar-themed books from this era and found the content to be perfectly acceptable.
  
  The funny thing is somebody else obviously saw value in that particular book - because when I first made this post it had a little "Scan this book" button which has since gone...
  
  After a little digging I discovered that this particular book has already been scanned by Google
  
  Check out just some of the subjects within this *novelty* book:
  
  "Apron Making"
  "Amateur Photography"
  "Sewing Class for Girls"
  "The Care of Lawns"
  "A Paradise Inn"
  "Home Laundry"
  "Wild Flowers"
  "An Amateur Baker"
  "Profitable Gardening"
  "The Care of Plants"
  "Butter and Eggs"
  "Entertainments for Children"
  "A Visiting Chiropodist"
  "Baby Lingerie"
  "The Children's Club"
  "Fudge-making for a Living"
  "Repairing Toys"
  "The Oiling of Floors"
  "Money in Frogs"
  "Selling Herb Seeds"
  "Natural Photographs of Children"
  "A Cellar Garden"
  
  What marketer couldn't find an abundance of customers for that!
  
  Given he current economic climate I'm sure there are thousands of people looking for ways to make some extra money at home -- in fact, I KNOW there is
  
  This content is just begging to be productized!
  
  You could bundle it together and sell it as a single package OR (what I would do) pull it apart and create a whole heap of mini products, cross referencing each one with all of the others for maximum effect.
  
  Yeah, the language style might be a little old... but just head on over to guru or elance and have someone spruce it up and you're away!
  
  all the best,
  
  -Phil
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Rachel Zaouche 15 years ago
  
  Hi Phil
  
  This is a great share - thank you for that.
  
  I too cannot understand why anyone would think that a book written prior to 1923 wasnt worth anything (although I think I am with Kay when it comes to some of the titles)
  
  And if any of you have kids, where do you think Cinderella etc came from - the Public Domain. It made Walt Disney millions not to mention quite a few IM people.
  
  If anyone knows of a decent PD source for videos particularly news style broadcasts I would love to know.
  
  Best wishes
  
  Rach
  
  Thanks
  
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lexilexi

15 years ago

What use does a book over a hundred years old have?

Are you kidding??

Have you ever read any of the old classics? There is enormous timeless wisdom in ancient writings. Thousands of years of life and experience.

Not only that, but ancient books such as Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", Machiavelli's "The Prince", Lao-Tsu's "Tao Te Ching" - are still considered classics in the field of self-improvement and have been read and treasured by millions throughout the ages.

By bringing other forgotten gems of ancient books to light and giving them a new audience, you are doing a great service to the collective culture of a new generation that only knows television, and the shallow knowledge of modern times.

Let's not forget ancient poetry and epic stories.

Our libraries of old books are a treasure trove and anyone who promotes the best of these books deserves to get rich IMO.

This thread is great. Are the books being scanned largely ones that have not been scanned and made available by Google Books already?

Still, it's interesting to note that many people will still purchase copies of things that are actually available for free in other places if they searched for them. It's all about convenience and putting things where people can find them.

One classic example I saw was a website about bodybuilding, which was selling PDF copies of some very old (presumably public domain) books from master bodybuilders of the past. There's so much scope - especially if you already have a niche website and can unearth little-known, old books on a subject and present it to the right audience.

A little while back I purchased the book "The Public Domain" by Stephen Fishman - he's an expert lawyer in the field of the Public Domain - and it's amazing how much is available to us. The Public Domain is incredible.

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jrailsback

15 years ago

Originally Posted by lexilexi

What use does a book over a hundred years old have?

Are you kidding??

...

By bringing other forgotten gems of ancient books to light and giving them a new audience, you are doing a great service to the collective culture of a new generation that only knows television, and the shallow knowledge of modern times.

Let's not forget ancient poetry and epic stories.

Our libraries of old books are a treasure trove and anyone who promotes the best of these books deserves to get rich IMO.

This thread is great. Are the books being scanned largely ones that have not been scanned and made available by Google Books already?

Still, it's interesting to note that many people will still purchase copies of things that are actually available for free in other places if they searched for them. It's all about convenience and putting things where people can find them.

One classic example I saw was a website about bodybuilding, which was selling PDF copies of some very old (presumably public domain) books from master bodybuilders of the past. There's so much scope - especially if you already have a niche website and can unearth little-known, old books on a subject and present it to the right audience.

A little while back I purchased the book "The Public Domain" by Stephen Fishman - he's an expert lawyer in the field of the Public Domain - and it's amazing how much is available to us. The Public Domain is incredible.

Great post. And Stephen Fishman's book is a must have if you work in the area of public domain. It's the public domain bible, in effect.

Thanks

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madison_avenue 15 years ago

Thanks for this!

I saw some books there from 1977 and 1982. I thought books had to be at least 50 years old. Are these usable, are they in the public domain, so are copyright free?

Does anyone know the situation on this?
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Riz 15 years ago

Thanks for sharing
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damen 15 years ago

a book can be placed into the public domain by the copyright owner at any time (well, sort of.. it gets complicated. the copyright owner still has copyright, but he can basically just say that everyone is free to do with it what they want)
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TheMagicShow 15 years ago

Another golden nugget that always seems to pop up in the warrior forum, thanks for the info.
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Loren Woirhaye 15 years ago

One thing I've seen people do is flood blogs with antiquated
PD content... problem is nobody will read it.

With PD work you can edit it and punch-it-up, add headings
and commentary - like a minister explaining Bible passages.

Who wants to go to the trouble?

Well, my feeling is that if NOBODY reads your stuff you lose
this game, no matter how much traffic the content brings
you. If you make old information accessible to new audiences
then you are onto something.
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- laghabek 15 years ago
  
  Thanks. I used public domain works successfully in the past. This information can help me to take it to a new level...
  
  L
  
  Thanks
  
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artwebster 15 years ago

Hi, Phil,
Valuable information, especially for those of us outside the USA.

I see you have a few navel gazers being a bit stand offish about this but they really should realise two things:-

1 - The big spenders at the moment are baby boomers - now in their 60s

2 - Nothing grips a baby boomer like nostalgia!

These public domain books are great reminders of what our lives used to be like. Many city dwellers under the age of 35 probably would be horrified if they bothered to find out just what the baby boomers lived through and the sort of entertainment that they used to enjoy and now will pay to see again.

Many books I read in my youth were old then (don't forget, change was much slower in those days) and are now in the public domain and, I for one, spend some time each week searching for them. As an example, I recently discovered a source for the book-length poem "How Horatio kept the bridge" and happily paid $15 for it.

If you are going to decide that age is a barrier, you are probably deciding not to deal with 35% of web surfers.
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realworldincome

15 years ago

Good find, Phil. Do you mind if I refer to you as Kneb Jr.?

PD has a lot to offer, especially if one uses some imagination and new twists.

Thanks for sharing this!

Thanks
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Philip John

15 years ago

Originally Posted by realworldincome

Good find, Phil. Do you mind if I refer to you as Kneb Jr.?

PD has a lot to offer, especially if one uses some imagination and new twists.

Thanks for sharing this!

Kneb Jr. it is!

Thanks

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Don Schenk

15 years ago

Thank you Phil.

And thank you to Art for adding to my vocabluary "navel gazers" cool!

I have just one question (well actually two) are the books already scanned available, and where are they found? At Boston?

Thanks

:-Don

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15 years ago

Originally Posted by Don Schenk

Don that are books from the Boston Public Library. All books that are scanned already can be found at Openlibrary and also at archive.org ( openlibrary usually links to archive.org ).

You can see also books from BPL there that are not scanned yet - you can order the scan and you will get some days later the link to that book ( and will be published also at archive.org for the public )

You can search at Openlibrary via keyword but also at archive.org - that gives you a larger search result

Timo

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goindeep 15 years ago

First of all thanks to the original OP!

But second and waaaay more important i just wanted to let everyone know that because you are using this 'openlibrary' site. or in fact any other so called 'public domain' site. It doenst actually mean that ALL of the work is public domain.

Dont be stupid.

But the best thing with this site is that it actually gives you much more info which will help you figure out if you can use the source or not.

So, basically have fun, but remember to be careful.
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Philip John 15 years ago

To all those Public Domain naysayers...

Just because a book is 100 years old doesn't mean it can't add value to your business.

Just take a look Walt Disney managed to do with a few Public Domain fairy tales!

Here is one tactic for using Public Domain content that I have personally used (and quite effectively, might I add!)

About 4 years ago I was running 5-6 niched blogs.

One of them was in the garden niche.

I never in my wildest dreams could have maintained all of those blogs...

So...

I got hold of a few public domain books and PAID someone else to go through them, update the language as required and cut and paste chunks out of them to create short and concise articles for pennies on the dollar.

I can guarantee you one thing: those articles were SOOOO much better than any PLR content you could buy - they were written by gardening experts who knew what they where talking about in a time where they took pride in the English language.

Bang. No more content issues... instead I could focus on driving traffic and monetizing my blogs.

Also, as artwebster pointed out above, nostalgia is a HUGE selling point for a lot of Public Domain material

There are entire businesses making big bucks on this one premise alone - I've seen people with businesses selling old maps, postcards, old movies & TV shows, blues music, jazz music, books and many, many others

Sure, your target audience may not be 20-30 years olds with entrepreneurial aspirations, but you have to remember one thing; OLD PEOPLE HAVE MONEY TOO! - and they like to spend it on old stuff!

all the best
-Phil
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johnmags 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Phil Hosemans

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL13454124M

Can you please explain about this?
I don't know how to use it? where is the content?

Thanks
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- GeorgettaSterling 15 years ago
  
  Just to put an additional perspective on the value of this:
  
  Matt Furey made millions of dollars selling old PD books and courses. I believe his first, and biggest, was selling something called "Farmer Burns Catch Wrestling" (or similar - don't shoot me for approximating the title). It was a course on catch wrestling that was something like 90 years old. Furey re-presented it as "lost secrets" of a "lost art" of combat, self defense and fitness.
  
  He also has a course on bodyweight exercises that he got from some manual that was 1000 years old, I believe. "Hindu squats" and "Hindu pushups" and such. Sold a LOT of books, videos, etc. Still selling today.
  
  So - what value do a bunch of old books have? A lot. Bodybuilding, martial arts, fitness, diet (yes - "lost" diet secrets), beauty, home cleaning (with "natural ingredients"), hobbies of all sorts (sewing, knitting, crochet, patchwork, leatherwork, woodwork, furniture building...), books on "character building", language books, philosophy, art, metallurgy (there is a company that specializes in republishing old/ancient metalworking, metalcasting, blacksmithing books, and has for decades now), jewelry making, financial (think that all those "old time" trading books and methods are revealing great "lost secrets" - especially in the technical trading arena), magic, occult, etc. etc. etc.
  
  Just some thoughts.
  
  Best Regards, Georgetta
  
  Thanks
  
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- tj 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by johnmags
  
  Can you please explain about this?
  I don't know how to use it? where is the content?
  
  Thanks
  
  Google is your friend!
  
  How to make money - Google Book Search
  
  Timo
  
  Thanks
  
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justerminator 15 years ago

I'm all over it, thanks!

question: are all books that turn up in the search in PD? Or do you have to watch for publication year?
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Raquel

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Phil Hosemans

7. After 3-5 days you will receive an email follow-up with a link to the newly-digitized copy, complete with PDF, online flip book and best of all - fully editable text ready to use on your next project - brilliant!

Phil thanks for sharing this info.

In Kneb's thread on how to find PD materials online, those websites he referred have Copyrights link and Terms of Usage somewhere in the website (usually at the bottom) that we could read and understand if the material is really PD and copyrights free...is it the same with these scanned materials? I just want to ask if all the scanned/digital copies and PDFs they will send via email are all in Public Domain and copyrights free? Will it be stated somewhere in the PDFs or scanned copies that these are copyrights-free material? Of course we need to be careful here to avoid complications.

Thanks again...this is a good source of contents..

Thanks
2 replies

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marciayudkin

15 years ago

One thing I've seen people do is flood blogs with antiquated
PD content... problem is nobody will read it.

With PD work you can edit it and punch-it-up, add headings
and commentary - like a minister explaining Bible passages.

Who wants to go to the trouble?

Well, my feeling is that if NOBODY reads your stuff you lose
this game, no matter how much traffic the content brings
you. If you make old information accessible to new audiences
then you are onto something.

Here is an example. Let's say you are a photographer and you like to travel. You find an old book on a spot you want to visit and then go take photos of the places that are mentioned in the book. You get a scanned copy of the old book as described above, add your present-day photographs, set it up through a print-on-demand service (such as Amazon's CreateSpace) and then sell the book on Amazon and elsewhere.

You get to take your travel and photography expenses as a tax deduction, have fun and make money at the same time.

Or suppose you are into gardening. Find an old book on gardening and update it with your photos. Or update it by interviewing present-day plant scientists on what they think is valid or not valid in the old work.

Hey, I just talked myself into a new idea for updating an old book in connection with my own hobby! (No, not photography and not gardening...)

Marcia Yudkin

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15 years ago

Originally Posted by Raquel

... I just want to ask if all the scanned/digital copies and PDFs they will send via email are all in Public Domain and copyrights free? Will it be stated somewhere in the PDFs or scanned copies that these are copyrights-free material? Of course we need to be careful here to avoid complications.

Thanks again...this is a good source of contents..

NO you have to check the status of the copyright situation for yourself. You cannot blame a third party if you are using copyrighted material.

Timo

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Raquel 15 years ago

Originally Posted by tj

NO you have to check the status of the copyright situation for yourself. You cannot blame a third party if you are using copyrighted material.

Timo

Thanks Timo..
I've been browsing books and at full text menu if you will explore the Available menu...There is a clickable detalils that says the ff:

Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English

Copyright-evidence: Evidence reported by ____ on August 9, 2007: no visible notice of copyright; stated date is 1904. (I just removed the name of reporter for me not to get in trouble

hmm.. I guess this will somehow give me peace of mind when using the material and of course as you said check it myself.

Thanks...
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jrailsback 15 years ago

Great post, thanks for the heads up! I came across the idea of the public domain after buying a WSO a few months ago. The opportunity is endless!

Thanks again!
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jgoffshore 15 years ago

Thanks for this info. Could be very profitable.
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- Jonathan 2.0 Banned 15 years ago
  
  Thanks for the valuable resource, Phil.
  
  I agree with many people that much of the content for information products is going to be out of date (it's not just a matter of copy and paste) and if you care about your customers it's going to take a reasonable amount of work updating the material. At least that's my thinking and I've researched public domain material before.
  
  Still, there's other uses besides information products. And I'm sure there's some real gems that can be mined from the website.
  
  Thanks
  
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Michael Oksa 15 years ago

Hey that Google one is awesome!

It's easy wnough to change the search terms, too!

Plus, you can select a portion of the text as an image.

Here's an example...

Now! That's cool!

All the best,
Michael
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enderZ 15 years ago

Hmmm... call me blind, but I just cant find the "scannable" option, I can see already scanned books, and those who are not scanned, but can find where I can order a scan. Any help would be great
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- Christian Fox 15 years ago
  
  same here
  `
  
  Thanks
  
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How to claim your FREE (unexploited) Public Domain work!

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