ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Easy guide to starting out with Public Domain books available soon!

4 Step-By-Step videos, Guide Book & MORE!

Sign up for the free Newsletter to be the first to know when it is available! (beginning of April).

It’s been a long time coming but I finally put together an awesome Public Domain How-To product!

If you’re new to the Public Domain this is for you!!  I help you get started with the PD quickly and easily – and  – NO – this does not involve me telling you to check out Google Books and Project Gutenberg.

I take you step-by-step through finding potential PD books (in less than 5 minutes!) and researching the copyright of these items (in less than 5 minutes too!).  You’ll seriously be surprised at just how quick and easy this is!  We’ll go step-by-step in 4 videos and a 20 page guide book!

Plus – I also sat down and went through over 20 sellers on eBay who are making money with Public Domain items – we’ll go through what they’re doing and how YOU can do it better!

This product will be available within the next week!  Sign up for the free newsletter to be the first to know when it is available!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Give me the choice between using Public Domain material or PLR stuff and I will chose the “Public Domain” EVERY time! Hands down – no question about it what-so-ever.

Just in case you don’t know the differences, here’s the basics:

The “Public Domain” consists of well over 80 million items that are free to use published up until 1963 (and some there-after).

PLR = “Private Label Rights” – Someone sells the rights to something they’ve written – depending upon restrictions you may alter it, claim yourself as author, re-sell it…etc.

Here are some reasons why you should choose “Public Domain” material over PLR:

1.) You can use “Public Domain” materials WITHOUT any restrictions what-so-ever:

Public Domain:

[YES] Can Put Your Name As The Author
[YES] Can Be Edited
[YES] Can Be Broken Down Into Articles
[YES] Can Be Used As Web or e-zine content
[YES] Can be added into any membership sites.
[YES] Can Sell in any way.
[YES] Can be offered as a bonus.
[YES] Can be given away for free (any format).
[YES] Can be offered through on any auction sites.

And a virtually unlimited amount of other ways you can use it.

If you have some PLR material, take a look for a .txt or .doc file that came with it.  It may be called “ReadMe” or “License Terms”.

Often times these “Private Label Rights” products come with restrictions, for instance:

[NO] Can be edited completely and your name put on it
[NO] Can be used as web content
[NO] Can be broken down into new articles
[NO] Can be packaged into an ebook or new product

2.)  Public Domain items are usually Unique Content.

Public Domain:

With well over 80 million items in the Public Domain, the overwhelming majority of PD items have NOT been published on the web.  Maybe you’ll find 1 other site that has it – but, believe me, the majority will be found no where else.  This is UNIQUE content for your web site or blog.  Google and your visitors love unique content.  It’s just as good as if you wrote a post/article yourself.

Private Label Rights:

I dare you to do this…Go and pick some PLR item from your hard drive.  Copy a sentence from it and pop it into Google (with quotes)…and just how many web sites do you find with that SAME EXACT PLR article on it??  50, 100, 500 ++ ??  It’s probably more in the thousands.

You can see a real-life example I did about this HERE.

If you’re serious about adding quality, unique content to the web, why in the world would you want to publish the same exact article that 1,000+ other peopl have?

3.) Public Domain content is well written by REAL authors.

Public Domain:

Written by REAL authors and put through a REAL publishing process.  Someone approved the article/book, it went through an editing process.  If it was a bunch o’ junk – it would not have been published in the first place.

Private Label Rights:

The majority of the time these items are very poorly written.  The author was most likely more focused on working in the right keywords than they were with writing good content.

4.) Public Domain items include books, magazines, newspapers, photographs, drawings, music…etc.

As far as I’ve seen up until this point, PLR is only ebooks and articles.  With the Public Domain, you can find items in various formats.

5.) Over 80 MILLION items in the Public Domain – in almost every subject/topic/niche!

Yes…over 80 MILLION items!  How many PLR items are out there?  Maybe a few thousand?  What do you think the overlap is in people using the same PLR items?

If you’re focusing on a tiny niche (and you sooo should be), you’ll be hard pressed to find PLR items to fit your niche.  But the Public Domain is a whole other world.  Want something on building duck decoy’s? – found it.  How about 10 uses for old garden hoses? – got that too.  25 tips for starting a business using your home workshop – yep!

Here is just a small list of the Public Domain material I have on my hard drive:

  • Allergies
  • Aquariums
  • Archery
  • Art
  • Astrology
  • Autos
  • Basket Making
  • Beer Making
  • Birds
  • Boats
  • Bonsai
  • Book Binding
  • Business-sales-marketing
  • Cake Decorating
  • Camping
  • Candy Making
  • Card Games
  • Chess
  • Chicken Raising
  • Childrens Books
  • Christmas Crafts
  • Christmas Carols
  • Christmas Sheet Music
  • Cooking
  • Cures – Old Folk Remedies

Any one of the above topics could be spun into a tiny niche web site filled with Unique Content that my targeted visitors will love!  I could create new products from them, auto-responder series, articles, podcasts, videos…etc.

So, are you still excited about using PLR content?  or did I open your eyes to a much broader world of possibilities with using the Public Domain?

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

This article/post was first on my main site www.BethSawickie.Com

That’s a weighty question now isn’t it?

If you don’t know what the “Public Domain” is you might think it refers to our National Park Land :)

Public Domain refers to published items that are no longer covered by copyright.  This refers to all items published in the US prior to 1923, items published between 1923-1977 WITHOUT a proper copyright notice, items published between 1923-1963 that HAD a copyright notice, but copyright was not renewed, and lastly, many government publications.  The above rules only apply to works published in the United States.  The rules for other countries get all sorts of confusing.  I have to look up the terms each time I encounter a possible Public Domain work published outside the U.S.

No copyright (in the U.S.) means that they can be used in any fashion, by anybody without any credit given to the original author – no permission needed!

Here’s where the questions and acusations come up…

  • Isn’t that plagarism?
  • You’re STEALING someone elses work!
  • How could YOU do that !?!?
  • Why would you do that? – that’s old useless stuff in them there ol’ books!

The reality is that it is LEGAL to “do that”.

There are plenty of people who have taken items in the Public Domain, slightly altered the text and re-published the same work as their own.

Do I totally agree with doing that?  No, I don’t – but people are free to do that if they wish.

There are also numerous people who take a Public Domain work, improve upon it in some fashion, give credit to the original author and then publish the work.  They might have their name on there as a co-author or editor.  Do a web search for “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill – everybody and their brother has re-done that one.  I don’t think you’ll find anyone trying to pass off that book as their own original work though – that would just be plain silly!

I believe that it is ethical to use Public Domain material.  I believe that it is only fair to give some sort of credit to the original author.

Whenever I use Public Domain material I see it as a recycling project.  I am taking long-lost ideas from books that are usually buried in someone’s basement or in the far off archive of the library – I’m taking these old musty books and turning them into something bright, shiny and new.  Those almost lost ideas are then given new life and shared with a new generation that otherwise may not have known of their existence.

I could even get all Houdini like and say I’m helping long-dead authors to speak from the grave…spooky!

That’s my view on it ;)

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

from the Library of Congress

NOT all in the Public Domain – you are responsible for checking copyright
http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Images of monsters, grotesque items, angels & demons, weird science

http://fantastic.library.cornell.edu/about.php

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

From Cornell.  I find the story of how this collection came to be very interesting.  You’ll see it on the first page.

http://digital.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/about.html

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Main categories of ads include: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II

** Check on copyright BEFORE using **

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

from Duke University

NOT all in the Public Domain – please check copyright

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/index.html#by-subject

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

from Cornell University Library

NOT all Public Doman – you are responsible for checking copyright info.

http://rdc.library.cornell.edu/search/index.php?mode=browse&type=Collection

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Over 9,000 images. It includes booklets that were used in advertising. When you bring up a particular item, scroll down to the bottom and see if there are more pages for you to select.
** Read copyright info. available on the site **

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa/

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Looking for a reliable web hosting company? We found one.