Public Domain

Okay, so now you have a website and everything has been set up – your public domain-based e-book neatly cut up into article series and e-course installments, your autoresponder ready. Visitors to your website start pouring in, but after a few weeks, a month, you notice: Nothing’s happening!

These people are not buying. They do not even spare your product a second glance before they start leaving. This is one of the pitfalls of the Internet, actually. It is easy to find almost anything on any sort of topic and enter websites that specialize in that subject. However, it is also that easy to leave everything, in search…in constant search.

The question is: How do you turn your visitors into buyers?

Because all visitors to your website are potential buyers. You only have to give them a little push to get them to make a purchase.

There are several ways to do this, of course. We can go on and on and on and on about how to make full use of the web to earn profits from your public domain work. But let us discuss the most effective method yet.

We have discussed about how we can attract more flies with honey. We have also discussed about nice, clean, and short to entice consumers to come back for more. However, all of this will only work if your product is exposed to the majority of the market. And you can do this by distributing the first few installments of your e-course to other newsletters, e-zines, articles archives, and even other websites.

When you do this, be sure to include a link back to your website. You can usually add this sort of information at the end of the sample installment. Also, somewhere in there, indicate that there is more to the series available at your site to let you readers know where they can get more.

Couple that with intense promotion on your own website and there is positively every reason that your little public domain project should start churning out money.

You may want to consider offering a “teaser” – that is, a lighter e-course that you can give away for free. Consider this a prelude to your main offering. And if you really write your e-course just so, it might just be enough to pique the readers’ interest and get them to come back for a bigger bite.

Besides modernizing public domain text, another alternative you have is to recreate copyright-free images. Again, you do not have to be an artist to do this sort of thing. You do, however, probably need to know a little about digital art software like Photoshop or Corel Draw.

With the help of a good image editing software, you can make alterations in a public domain image, depicting tired old works like the Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Picasso’s Woman in front of the Mirror in a humorous twist.

In fact, there may already be several funny depictions of these works circulating the net – propaganda posters like the US Government’s We Can Do It!, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vetruvian Man, and many more. These images are in the public domain so they are free for use by the public any which way they want.

And once you have a collection of these “modernized” public domain images, you can group them and then publish them as themed calendars, posters, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, or other gift items. You can even print your products and sell them online as t-shirts, hats, book bags, cards, and more.

There are two ways of going about this. You can either hire a company that specializes in promotional products. Have them make an inventory of all your altered public domain images so you can store them and ship them whenever a buyer decides to purchase from your site. Or, you can enlist the services of a Print on Demand company like Café Press or Lulu and let them reproduce or reprint copies of your public domain images.

Here you’ll learn about a number of methods you can use to profit from the public domain. Some are more involved than others, but a general rule of thumb is: the more effort you put into your presentation, the better the reward you will reap.

Some purveyors of public domain programs would have you believe their methods will make you an instant millionaire. Don’t fall for it. It is quite possible to turn a healthy profit from public domain works—as long as you are armed with enough knowledge about the process, and you’re willing to invest some time into building your fortune.

Remember to choose a project that you have some personal interest in. You will be ealing extensively with your materials, performing prep work, marketing and sales. There is nothing less convincing than a salesperson who is obviously bored to tears with his or her own presentation. A bit of passion goes a long way toward success.

Think the public domain fortune is a myth? The following examples illustrate the incredible potential in this powerful and largely untapped field.

Famous Fortunes Made From Public Domain Works
Many people have made comfortable livings repackaging and selling public domain works.

Here are two of the most famous and successful:

Walt Disney

That’s right: the “magic man” himself took advantage of copyright-free creations to construct his fortune and bring joy to the world. A dreamer from childhood, Walt Disney built his billion-dollar empire of beloved characters, movies and theme parks from a public domain source: the immortal fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers.

These wonderful stories entered the public domain, and Disney essentially copied them, changing a few of the characters’ names and “modernizing” them (and rewriting for a happy ending, of course). What resulted was a magical world known and loved the world over…and plenty of profit for Walt.

Ted Turner

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable network grosses millions a year in advertising dollars alone—and Ted Turner pays a fraction of the costs other stations must shell out in royalties and viewing fees. Why? Almost every movie shown on TCM is in the public domain. A shrewd businessman, Turner saw an opportunity to broadcast classic movies to a new generation and simultaneously turn over an enormous profit by breaking into public domain distribution.

One of the easiest ways to earn money from public domain e-books, duplicating the exact content of public domain works and re-selling them can be a great way to start your business. You essentially do not have to spend a lot on material.

Since the product is already in the public domain, there are no royalties and no worries about copyright infringement. You do not even have to get permission from the original author in order to excerpt, reprint, or advertise their products.

You can make as many copies as you want of the original public domain work, convert them into downloadable e-book format (See previous section for instructions on how to create an e-book) and you would be all set to start re-selling, re-distributing, and reaping in the profits.

All in all, it sure is one easy way of earning money, literally without spending a cent.