One of the Easiest Ways to Find Public Domain eBooks

eBay...

Ok, I'm sure some others would have already discovered this, but I hadn't up until a few days ago, so I'm guessing there might be a few others out there who didn't know either .

I've been on sites like the Gutenberg Project before & typed in a search term related to a topic I'm interested in. While a few good non-fiction books would come up, a lot would be fiction books that I wasn't interested in.

Some wouldn't even be really related to the topic I was interested in - they just happened to use the keyword in a different context.

Anyway, I was doing some research on eBay the other day for an email I was sending out to my list and by accident, discovered quite a few sellers listing public domain ebooks for sale on CD.

Just type in search for - 'keyword' CD - & you'll get very long list. Depending on your keyword you might have to restrict the search to the Books category.

Now most of these ebooks would be listed in the Gutenberg Project, so now that you have their names/author names, it's just a matter of locating the ebook there. No need to buy the CD on eBay.

Also, check what other items the seller is selling. I've found one seller with a huge range of CDs containing PD ebooks on a wide variety of topics. It will give you some more ideas on other niche markets you could look at.

Remember...it's not the best idea though to use the PD work unedited. Sure, you're allowed to, but you'll be much better off in the long run if you personalise it and make it your own.

• Update the info...bring it up to this century . Due to the age of them, some of the information in the ebook may not be relevant any more.
• Read the ebook (or outsource it) & make an MP3 recording.
• Take the most relevant points & put them into a PowerPoint presentation.
• Break the ebook down into a series of smaller reports.

The list of things you can do with it is endless! Once you've added your own touch to it, you can give it away for free on your site, or sell it!

To be on the safe side though, I would recommend, especially if it's not listed on a site like Gutenberg, to double-check the public domain laws in your country first to make sure they are in fact in the public domain...the last thing you want to do is get into trouble for breaches of copyright.

Anyway...I'm off to write down some more titles .

Hope this helps someone.

Rach