The public domain represents any creative work, such as a book, writing, photograph, music, etc. that is not protected by law and can be freely used by everyone for any legal reason. In essence, a work in the “public domain” is “public property” for all.

It is important to note that many works that fall into the public domain used to be protected by copyright law but now no longer have such protections. So can you make money from selling public domain works?

• Can You Sell Something That is Public Domain?
• What are the differences between the public domain and forms of intellectual property
• How Do I Know a Work is in the Public Domain?
• Ways to Make Money Selling Public Domain Works
• Can I Sell Public Domain eBooks?
• Can Public Domain Images be Used Commercially?
• Can Public Domain Books be Used Commercially?
• How to Make Money From Public Domain Books
• Where Can You sell public domain books?
• What Books Are no Longer Copyrighted?
• What Became Public Domain in 2020?
• What Became Public Domain in 2021?
• Is Wizard of OZ Public Domain?
• Do You Need to Credit Public Domain Images?
• Public Domain Business Ideas
• Can You Make Money Off Public Domain?
• How to Make Money With Public Domain Comics
• What Can You do With Books in The Public Domain?
• How to Use Public Domain For Profit
• Public Domain Products
• Public Domain Business Books
• Public Domain Old Books
• How do Public Domain Photos Make Money?
• How do Public Domain Books Make Money?
• Can I Sell Copyright Free Images?
• Can You Alter a Public Domain Image?

Can You Sell Something That is Public Domain?

Yes! You can freely create what are known derivative works. A derivative work is based on one or more pre-existing works. For example, you could take certain public domain documents, and add your original commentary and/or other information and obtain copyright on that new derivative work.

What are the differences between the public domain and forms of intellectual property like a copyright, trademarks, and patent?

To fully understand the difference between them, you need to know the definitions of the public domain and the intellectual property concepts of copyright, trademark, and patent. However, remember, a work in the public domain no longer has any legal protections.

Read Also: Top 7 Best Platforms to Sell Vintage Clothes

A copyright is a legal concept that protects works of authorship (e.g. such as short stories, books, music, plays, choreographies, architectures, movies, etc.) that are fixed in some kind of tangible medium of expression (e.g. on paper, on a recording device, in any kind of fixed material).

But copyright does not protect the actual ideas, procedures, processes, systems, or discoveries in the copyright. For example, if you write a song about love, you cannot copyright the idea of love. Rather, you can only copyright your expression of love in the song.

A trademark is a legal concept that protects words, names, symbols, logos, and devices used in connection with goods or services to indicate the source of those goods and services. In short, a trademark is a source identifier. This means a trademark is a “mark” used for consumers so they can easily identify and differentiate between different products and services in the marketplace.

A patent is a legal concept that grants protection to individuals who create a new invention. Technically speaking, a patent grants the holder of the patent the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention.

How Do I Know a Work is in the Public Domain?

This is where it can get tricky – very tricky sometimes. However, there are essentially 3 broad ways in which a work enters the public domain, including:

1. The United States government created the work;

2. the term of the copyright for the work expired; or

3. the original author of the work failed to renew or satisfy other formal requirements to claim his or her interest in the copyright.

So what does all this mean?

Rule 1 is fairly straightforward: Any work created by the U.S. federal government (i.e. but not necessarily a state government) is automatically part of the public domain and you’re free to use it. For example, you’re free to use the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and other U.S. federal documents.

However, you cannot use a painting created for the government by an artist unless that painting is owned by the U.S. federal government.

Rules 2 and 3 are where stuff can get complicated. The complication arises in how a copyrighted work becomes part of the public domain. Why is this area complicated? For a number of reasons, including the following two main reasons:

(i) because copyright laws have changed over the years with different lengths of time based on when the work was created or published and

(ii) because it’s often difficult to determine if an author renewed his/her copyrighted work and/or properly satisfied other formal requirements to maintain copyright protection.

In short, copyright protections generally survive many years after the death of the author, and different people often own the copyrights to deceased authors’ works – and finding out who these people are and whether they satisfied formal copyright protections is…well…a daunting task many times.

Ways to Make Money Selling Public Domain Works

When it comes to public domain works, there are actually quite a number of business ideas that you can try out to start a niche business. You will recall from this article that Public domain works are simply items no longer covered by intellectual property rights like copyright anymore. This simply means that the original creator, writer, inventor, or other person no longer has sole control over the work.

Anybody in the public is allowed to use that work freely. 

For example, music in the public domain is music that either has an expired copyright (or never had a copyright) or which all the rights to that music have expired over time. Many classical pieces of music such as the work of Beethoven and others are in the “public domain.” 

Items that are in the public domain might include (but is certainly not limited to) items such as: music, books, movies, pictures, software, patents, and other works.

There really is a HUGE body of public domain material no longer under copyright protection for people such as you and me to download, read, watch, or otherwise use how we want. It’s important to remember that you can sell public domain works. But the more you change the work, the bigger of a chance you will find a market for it.

This could mean taking something old (like a 1940s cartoon) and making it new again. You could sell it as a DVD or for digital download. You could sell the music track on the side.

So, how do you actually make money with public domain works?

1. Use public domain pictures to create and sell mugs, t-shirts, posters, stationary, and other items

The thing with some popular print-on-demand sites like CafePress.com, Zazzle.com, Teespring is that they actually ONLY create the mug or t-shirt for you IF they sell. This means you don’t pay anything to create a listing (there may be some variations here depending on what site you use) – you only pay a selling fee.  These services print and ship on demand the products you list.

So you simply upload a public domain picture. Then you pick one of the generic mugs or t-shirts that CafePress.com or Zazzle.com has available. If someone buys it, the website creates the product, ships it, and you make the difference between your selling price and the fee.

The only way to succeed big with this idea would to find a special niche that’s not overcrowded and then to create TONS of products. If you could develop a script/software to automatically create and post products to these sites, you could really get some serious stuff done.

2. Repackage Old Films

You can sell these films on Amazon.com, eBay.com, or your own website. Many Hollywood films, cartoons, and ALL government created film is in the public domain.  There are lots of websites that exist which allow you to download some of these public films for free. 

There are others that give you access to a huge body of work for very little money as well. Once you get a copy of these cartoons, just burn them onto a DVD and list them for sale on Amazon, eBay, or create your own site (that of course ranks well for a keyword people are actually searching for). 

Or you could simply have a website that sells the downloads, rather than a DVD copy.  Again, this idea would take a unique angle and the ability to appeal to a passionate audience. There really are lots of possibilities here.

3. Repackage and sell old books in digital format on Amazon or on your own site

There are a ton of “classic” works that are freely available to the public without any copyrights. You can download, share, or sell many of these works. In addition, lots of recipes are publicly available.

For example, one author, Ron Douglas, has repackaged public domain recipes before and resold the ebooks on Amazon. com and has done VERY well. 

We don’t know which of his books have “borrowed” recipes and which of his books have original ones, but either way, you get the idea.

With the right amount of uniqueness, pre-sell, and overall marketing, you could actually do pretty well selling your public domain works in a repackaged format.

Can I Sell Public Domain eBooks?

A book is in the public domain when it is not under copyright protection. Generally, you can publish and sell public domain eBooks. However, you will need to research which online platforms you can sell on. Each platform has its own rules, which are changing all the time.

For example, to sell on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), you typically must add original content to the public domain book, such as illustrations or a study guide. Before publishing, create an account with each online publisher and then format your book for upload. Set a price that is competitive.

Can Public Domain Images be Used Commercially?

Yes, and you won’t have any copyright problems because they’re a public domain. But there are a couple of things to be concerned about:

First, is the image really public domain? Many people have misconceptions about copyright law and assume something is public domain when it really isn’t. For example, some people think that once something has been posted online, it’s public domain. That’s not the case.

Second, might there be other legal problems besides copyright? For example, imagine the image of an official U.S. government, if you used it in a manner that suggested the man pictured is endorsing your product or service, he’d have a really good cause to sue you.

Sometimes, you’re better off buying stock images from any number of commercial image vendors. They’ll license you professional photos at a nominal fee with all the people in them having signed model releases.

Can Public Domain Books be Used Commercially?

While the exact rules differ by country, after a certain period books all around the globe become public domain. This means that they are free to be used in any way by anyone: including you. You can turn them into a movie, sell them, use their characters for Zombie rewrites or print T-shirts with quotes. Nobody can say a thing.

Re-publishing classics is a road many publishers decide to step on and quite rightfully: there is no bookshelf that wouldn’t look better with this Vintage Russian Classics on it. Since public domain books are usually widely available for free through various channels, whoever decides to publish them should consider adding something extra.

How to Make Money From Public Domain Books

With the majority of public domain books available for free, it is a challenging task to make public domain books people would want to buy. However, it is definitely not impossible.

1. Create your own epub

There are three main reasons for this.
Firstly, this is to ensure quality: many public books have been automatically digitalized using a scanner and an OCR software. As no app is perfect, somebody has to proofread the book and look out for ‘t’s and ‘f’s.

Secondly, many places you might get public domain books create their own ebooks – they are free to use, but you can’t resell them. Yes, the content is out of copyright, but the publisher still did the job and deserves credit for it. So would you if you decided to publish them under your own name. Although the works of Tolstoy are public domain, you wouldn’t just put a sticker over the publisher’s name in the new Penguin edition and try to resell it as your own work, would you?

And last but not least: you are trying to make money out of it. Nothing comes out of nothing: you have to put an effort into reselling public domain books if you would like to see a return.

2. Add your own cover

Creating a creative book cover won’t only show that you have put some work into publishing this book but can also serve as a marketing tool. It will make you stand out from the crowd of bad quality, mass produced PD books. Your readers will honor quality work and look for the same publisher.

If you have books you have written yourself, you can even use the same branding! This works best if you handpicked the books you publish based on your reader’s taste. Public domain books could be a great addition to your reader’s library if they are somewhat related to your genre or main topic. You are creating a Jane Austen Book Club, republishing everything the great writer read and she was influenced by? Take my money.

3. Add some extras

Translate it. Create a glossary of difficult words or add annotations: old books should be read, but many people are put off by not knowing the historical background or foreign words. Make some illustrations. Turn it into an easy read.

4. Find books that are not digitalized yet

The bulletproof way of making money out of public domain books is to offer content nobody else does. Go to antique stores and second-hand bookshops to find hidden gems and scan them. You don’t even need a scanner, there are plenty of clever smartphone apps!

You can also browse library archives: they might even have some pdfs that could be turned into an ebook with a bit of work. (Check the local laws before you do this.)

Where Can You sell public domain books?

Not everywhere. For better customer experience, most stores don’t accept PD content that is not differentiated in any way from other PD content. Who would want to browse through hundreds of identical Anna Kareninas?

Amazon does accept PD books but only if they are translated, annotated or contain at least 10 original illustrations. Books that meet this criteria must include (Translated), (Annotated) or (Illustrated) in the title field. You will also have to explain in the book description how your book is unique.

The same goes for GooglePlay Books. They accept public domain books but only from select partners, and only if they don’t create a duplicate in their database. For a complete list of PublishDrive stores that accept (some) public domain books see our Stores page.

Bear in mind that some stores that accept public domain books pay less royalty: it can range from 35% to 20%.

What Books Are no Longer Copyrighted?

Some notable books have entered the public domain and more will be available there as time goes on. If you’re putting together a reading list for the new year, there are now dozens of well-known books that you can now access at no cost.

Mystery addicts can read Agatha Christie novel The Murder on the Links, the second book featuring her famous detective Hercule Poirot, for free. It joins two other Christie novels, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Secret Adversary, that were already in the public domain. Whose Body? by British mystery writer Dorothy Sayers is also now freely available.

Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, one of the most-loved books of all time, is also on the list of newly available books. So is Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf and A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton.

Humor fans can read P.G. Wodehouse’s The Inimitable Jeeves and Leave it to Psmith for free. Several of his books were already in the public domain, including My Man Jeeves and Right Ho, Jeeves.

Those in the mood for a classic Western can download Zane Grey’s Wanderer of the Wasteland, along with many of the author’s other books that were already in the public domain.

Also newly in the public domain are:

• Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
• New Hampshire by Robert Frost, the collection that contains his most famous poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
• Kangaroo by D.H. Lawrence
• The Great American Novel by William Carlos Williams
• Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley

What Became Public Domain in 2020?

Hundreds of copyright protections for artists who died in 1924 are now free to use or repurpose in the public domain under U.S. law.

Here are some top highlights of year 2020 batch in the public domain.

Music Composition

• “It Had to Be You”
• “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin
• “Lazy” by Irving Berlin
• “Jealous Hearted Blues” by Cora “Lovie” Austin
• “Nobody’s Sweetheart.” music by Billy Meyers and Elmer Schoebel, lyrics by Gus Kahn and Ernie Erdman
• “California, Here I Come” by Al Jolson

Films

• “Peter Pan” the first film adaptation of the book by James Matthew Barrie
• Buster Keaton’s “Sherlock, Jr.” and “The Navigator”
• Harold Lloyd’s “Girl Shy” and “Hot Water”
• The 1924 film adaptation of “Dante’s Inferno”

Literature

• “The Box-Car Children,” first book in the series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• “The Dream” by H. G. Wells
• “The Man in the Brown Suit” by Agatha Christie
• “When We Were Very Young” by A. A. Milne
• “Old New York novellas” by Edith Wharton
• “Tarzan and the Ant Men” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• “Billy Budd” by Herman Melville

What Became Public Domain in 2021?

On January 1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 entered the US public domain, where they will be free for all to use and build upon.

These works include books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, and Franz Kafka’s The Trial (in the original German), silent films featuring Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, and music ranging from the jazz standard Sweet Georgia Brown to songs by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, W.C. Handy, and Fats Waller.

Here are some of the works that entered the public domain in 2021.

Books

• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
• Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
• Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time
• Franz Kafka, The Trial (in German)
• Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy
• John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
• Alain Locke, The New Negro (collecting works from writers including W.E.B. du Bois, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Eric Walrond)
• Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
• Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
• Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves
• W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil
• Dorothy Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs
• Edith Wharton, The Writing of Fiction
• Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai

Films

• Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman
• The Merry Widow
• Stella Dallas
• Buster Keaton’s Go West
• His People
• Lovers in Quarantine
• Pretty Ladies
• The Unholy Three

Music

• Always, by Irving Berlin
• Sweet Georgia Brown, by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard & Kenneth Casey
• Works by Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues,” including Army Camp Harmony Blues (with Hooks Tilford) and Shave ’Em Dry (with William Jackson)
• Looking for a Boy, by George & Ira Gershwin (from the musical Tip-Toes)
• Manhattan, by Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers
• Ukulele Lady, by Gus Kahn & Richard Whiting
• Yes Sir, That’s My Baby, by Gus Kahn & Walter Donaldson
• Works by ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton, including Shreveport Stomps and Milenberg Joys (with Paul Mares, Walter Melrose, & Leon Roppolo)
• Works by W.C. Handy, including Friendless Blues (with Mercedes Gilbert), Bright Star of Hope (with Lillian A. Thorsten), and When the Black Man Has a Nation of His Own (with J.M. Miller)
• Works by Duke Ellington, including Jig Walk and With You (both with Joseph “Jo” Trent)
• Works by ‘Fats’ Waller, including Anybody Here Want To Try My Cabbage (with Andrea “Andy” Razaf), Ball and Chain Blues (with Andrea “Andy” Razaf), and Campmeetin’ Stomp
• Works by Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues,” including Dixie Flyer Blues, Tired of Voting Blues, and Telephone Blues
• Works by Lovie Austin, including Back Biting Woman’s Blues, Southern Woman’s Blues, and Tennessee Blues
• Works by Sidney Bechet, including Waltz of Love (with Spencer Williams), Naggin’ at Me (with Rousseau Simmons), and Dreams of To-morrow (with Rousseau Simmons)
• Works by Fletcher Henderson, including Screaming the Blues (with Fay Barnes)
• Works by Sippie Wallace, including Can Anybody Take Sweet Mama’s Place (with Clarence Williams)
• Works by Mrs. H.H.A. (Amy) Beach, including Lord of the Worlds Above, Op. 109 (words by Isaac Watts, 1674–1748), The Greenwood, Op. 110 (words by William Lisle Bowles, 1762–1850), The Singer, Op. 117 (words by Muna Lee, 1895–1965), and Song in the Hills, Op. 117, No. 3 (words by Muna Lee, 1895–1965)

Is Wizard of OZ Public Domain?

The copyright status of The Wizard of Oz and related works is complicated for several reasons. The book series is very long-running, and written by multiple authors, so the books often fall on opposite sides of eligibility for copyright laws.

There have also been multiple adaptations across many different media, which enjoy different kinds of copyright protection. The copyright law of the United States has changed many times and impacted Oz works every time. As of 2021, twenty-six Oz books and five movies are in the public domain.

Starting in 2019, an Oz book has entered the public domain every year. Barring another extension of copyright terms, all of the Famous Forty will be in the public domain by 2059.

Do You Need to Credit Public Domain Images?

When you are adding images, videos and other content that you did not create to your presentation, it is important to make sure that you are not violating anyone’s copyright. One way to do so is to find public domain images for your presentations.

Copyright.gov explains the public domain as follows: “A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.”

Because such works can be used without first seeking permission, they are ideal for many projects, particularly those that will extend beyond educational uses.

Even if a work that you use is in the public domain, it is advisable to provide attribution for the work or, at a minimum, keep a record of the attribution of the work, so that you or other interested parties can find it later if necessary.

Public Domain Business Ideas

There are many potential business opportunities that you can launch with public
domain works. Religion/Philosophy, The Arts, and Music are some of the popular
categories where the public domain is very strong, where you can find your own
niche within and build a thriving money-making business out of it.

The core process here is to brainstorm — once you understand what the public
domain is about and get a clear idea of the sort of information available in
the public domain, you can then sit down and brainstorm the different sort of
niches suitable for public-domain driven businesses.

Here, instead of finding a business idea first and then finding the right
public domain resources, we will look at finding public domain works and
creating businesses out of them. But, you’ll need to make sure that the right
market exists for any of these topics before you start running with the idea!

Religion & Philosophy

Religion is a sensitive topic for most people, and is bound to be
controversial. That being said, there are a lot of public domain works
concerned with religion, and commentaries on various faiths and critical issues
in history and specific religions are very popular.

As with any business venture, take care to evaluate the profitability of a particular idea before
setting up a business, but in this case you can easily create both information
sites and info-products.

Philosophy has an equally important position in the public domain, and like
religious issues has a constant following of search engine traffic. The trick
is, of course, to find the right niche and plant your flag on it.

The Arts

Interest in the Arts is potential goldmine, if only because of the almost
ridiculous amounts of money spent on paintings. From Sotheby to Louvre to
backroom agreements, there is definitely a lot of money involved in this niche.

The only problem is, how can you use the public domain to make the money train
stop at your doorstep? Simple. Build information packages on artists and their
work and sell them through your website.

This is a hugely untapped niche — while there may be a lot of competition in this area, many of these websites are old and not optimized for search engines, meaning that with proper SEO and
marketing you can easily gain good search engine rankings.

Music

Classical music has a dedicated following — but what’s even better for you as
an entrepreneur is the wealth of information ABOUT the musicians and their
music in the public domain. Use this information, target the classical buffs
and voila- you have contact.

Government publications are one of the popular categories where
the public domain is very strong, where you can find your own niche within and
build a thriving money-making business out of it.

The core process here is to brainstorm — once you understand what the public
domain is about and get a clear idea of the sort of information available in
the public domain, you can then sit down and brainstorm the different sort of
niches suitable for public-domain driven businesses.

Here, instead of finding a business idea first and then finding the right
public domain resources, we will look at finding public domain works and
creating businesses out of them. But, you’ll need to make sure that the right
market exists for any of these topics before you start running with the idea!

The US government routinely releases information on taxes, health care and
other government policies into the public domain.

If you are involved in providing consulting services in any of these areas, using the public domain as an important resource for your website will help build trust and more importantly, increase both your traffic AND your conversion rates.

Can You Make Money Off Public Domain?

You certainly can. You could, for example, print up copies of the plays of Shakespeare, the stories of Charles Dickens, and the King James Bible to your heart’s content and sell them for actual money. However, keep in mind certain things about that:

First, since the work is in the public domain, other people can do that as well. Your edition of Shakespeare is likely competing with many other editions of Shakespeare, and you can’t stop your competitors from selling their books, nor can you demand royalties from them.

It is legally permitted for you to profit from selling such works, but it is not, in a business sense, particularly likely that you will actually do so.

Second, only the original version is in the public domain, not derivative works. For example, you might sell a book containing an ancient Greek text of the poems of Homer, but you cannot treat a translation made in 1998 as being in the public domain.

That’s a new work which is still under copyright. Likewise, if you copy somebody else’s collection of Shakespeare plays, any introductory material, illustrations, and so on which have been created recently also protected.

How to Make Money With Public Domain Comics

The whole purpose of repurposing previously copyrighted material is to earn additional income. When selling public domain comics, you can indeed create a steady stream of passive income, as long as you have made an effort to create a quality product that provides value to the customer.

If you have decided to just change the book cover, then be sure that your cover art is compelling. For sure, a fresh new cover can attract renewed interest in a once forgotten old classic.

Understand that profits will not be calculated according to the same royalty scale as an originally authored eBook or print-on-demand book. Each publishing platform has its royalty program for publishing public domain comics which is typically lower than the royalty paid for original content. In most cases, royalties paid in this category range from 20%-35%.

For example, an author of a public domain comic book might receive 35 cents on a $.99 eBook sale. While this doesn’t seem like much reward for your efforts, there are ways to create a fairly lucrative side hustle with some hard work and a little imagination.

Brainstorm ways to improve an existing version of a classic, either by changing the cover design, simplifying or modernizing the content, adding relevant artwork, having it translated into another language, or creating a complimentary audiobook. Now scale this effort, and increase income by adding several public domain classic books in your library.

What Can You do With Books in The Public Domain?

When a book (or any written work) enters the public domain, you can copy and use it without getting permission or paying fees. That’s because public domain books are no longer — or never were — protected by copyright.

Republish them as they are, or add your own material to create new works. Recast them in new media, remix them with other works, translate them into new languages … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Broadview Press recently republished an 1887 novel, She, by H. Rider Haggard, in its original serialized version. (It was a novel that both Freud and Jung loved, by the way, and it sounds fascinating.) And since it’s in the public domain, anyone can republish the original text, or write a screenplay based on it, or … whatever.

You can also quote freely from public domain books and other writings. Author’s heirs and literary estates can be difficult to deal with when you want to quote from works that they control the rights to. The James Joyce estate is known for this (in fact, a Stanford University professor is suing the estate for copyright misuse).

And the Joyce estate is hardly the only one to deny permission to quote, or to sue those who do. For example, the Samuel Beckett estate sues theater companies who stage unconventional versions of his plays.

But if a book or other written work is in the public domain you won’t have to pay extortionate permissions fees (which they sometimes are) and you won’t have to rely on fair use, an important but unpredictable defense to infringement. You can stage your play, or write your screenplay, or digitize the work and publish it online … you can create stuff without needing a lawyer.

How to Use Public Domain For Profit

If you’re not sure where to start with self-publishing public domain content, here are a few ideas that are sure to get your juices flowing. These simple but effective methods allow you to take previously published titles and release them to an audience in brand new and creative ways.

1. Turn printed books into digital offers.

One of the fastest and easiest ways for you to transform a piece of public domain content and release it to a new audience is by taking old printed books and converting them into a digital format.

Because every single book that entering the pubic domain space in 2019 was originally only available in print format (published 50 or more years ago), this is a no-brainer step that can get you sales and exposure without doing a whole lot of work to change the original offer.

There are countless books available online that were formerly only available in hardcopy print format.

There are two ways to go about self-publishing these types of books.

• Create an entire new digital formatted version.
• Scan the pages of the existing book into digital format.

2. Add illustrations.

Are you ultra-creative or have an artistic streak?

Another simple way to enhance a piece of public domain content and produce a book that is unique to you is by adding illustrations to the original work before self-publishing.

Images are content too. So, if you can find a way to republish an existing story but make it much more interesting with the generous use of highly complementary illustrations, you may have a new hit on your hands.

There is huge opportunity for this application in the children’s literature niche.

You can take any public domain children’s story or poem, create images that complement each one, and you will have created an entirely new offer.

If you aren’t great at art and drawing, you can consider collaborating with an experienced artist to co-author a children’s book.

3. Create a new book cover.

Ever dabbled in publishing low or no-content books?

Another simple way to create an offer from public domain content fast involves changing the outside of the existing book by designing a brand-new cover.

Book readers actually do judge books by their cover.

Studies have shown that people from different cultures and with different tastes respond very differently to the same book cover.

This is why book publishers and even movie producers market the same books and movies in completely different ways depending on who their target market is.

If you look at the poster for a movie that is marketed in different countries, you’ll notice the differences in approach. This can inspire you with the idea that packaging public domain content in a certain way has the power to make it much more appealing to a specific group of people.

4. Translate into a different language.

Have a flair for languages, or have access to a quality translation expert?

Another way to create brand new offers is by self-publishing books in different languages.

When you consider that there are over six thousand languages spoken on earth, there’s a lot of scope for new books that target readers who don’t speak the language of the original author.

Even if you’re only able to translate a single book into all of the major languages such as English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish and French, you already have the potential to earn a substantial income from the sale of these books.

Dig even further into the many other languages out there and you’ll find huge opportunity when it comes to self-publishing public domain content.

One caveat is that in order to do book translation you have to be very confident in your abilities or the abilities of your translator. It can be challenging to translate books into other languages properly while retaining their original meaning.

5. Simplify the content.

Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Very wise words, which lead to the next way you can make the most of public domain content. Make it simple to consume.

• Transform complicated content into a format that’s well organized and easy to read to add a lot of value and make it attractive to new audiences.
• Take a manuscript that was originally written for adults and transform it into something that children can understand and enjoy and you’ve found a unique way to upcycle content.
• Take a book previously published using old English and update the language into a format that is easily consumed by a modern audience.

Whether you choose to go the simple route and create a new cover for your public domain book, or if you want to get as complex as taking it apart and recreating it in a totally different way, there are many ways you can take copyright expired content and breathe new life into it. In doing so you create something interesting for your audience, while adding to your bottom line in the process.

Public Domain Products

A public domain property is a work that is not subject to copyright, belonging or available to the public as a whole. Often, these are works that are 95 years old or older.

Film

Here is a short (but by no means complete) list of films that are in the public domain. Many of these films can be found on Public Domain Movies, which not only includes the full video for these films, but the reasons behind their trademark lapses.

1 – “Night of the Living Dead”

Released in 1968, “Night of the Living Dead” had the misfortune of not having its trademark submitted properly. Good thing, too, since we never would have had “The Walking Dead” or “Zombieland” had that been the case.

2 – “White Zombie”

Speaking of zombies, the 1932 Bela Lugosi flick about witch doctors doing evil things entered the public domain almost immediately after its release. Like the aforementioned “Night of the Living Dead”, “White Zombie” suffered from trademarking mishaps.

3 – “Plan 9 From Outer Space”

Often considered the worst film ever made, Ed Wood’s cheeseball classic is about an alien invasion, not to mention another movie starring Bela Lugosi and zombies. Originally, the film wasn’t copyrighted during its release in 1958. It saw a few trademark renewals but then, in 1981, its trademark wasn’t renewed, thus entering it into the public domain.

4 – “Reefer Madness”

The ultimate sensationalized movie about drug use, “Reefer Madness” comes off more as an ironic comedy now than a film about the dangers of drugs. Like many films, this 1936 cult hit failed to trademark itself properly and entered public domain in the 1970s.

5 – “A Star is Born”

You may have seen the remake of this last year starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. What you may not know, though, is that the movie may never have been made had Warner Brothers remembered to renew the copyright on the original 1937 film in 1965.

Additional public domain films:

• “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)
• “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960)
• “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925)
• “Carnival of Souls” (1962)
• “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964)
• “McClintock!” (1963)
• “His Girl Friday” (1940)
• “The Lost World” (1925)
• “House on Haunted Hill” (1959)
• “Nosferatu” (1922)

Books

Interested in re-releasing or referencing a popular book title? Here is a short, but far-from-complete, list of books that are in the public domain.

1 – Sherlock Holmes

Ever wonder why there’s so many Sherlock Holmes TV shows, games, and movies? It’s because almost 100% of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels about the eccentric detective are in the public domain.

In fact, in 2014, a judge ruled that not only were the works in the public domain, but Doyle’s estate has no claim to any royalties from such works (LA Times).

2 – Dracula

Another famous character from literature that you’re sure to see over and over again, Dracula (first published in 1897), entered public domain in 1962. If you’re quick at math, that’s only 50 years after Stoker’s death, which adheres to the laws at the time.

Interestingly, some of the characters from the book — such as Van Helsing — have odd trademark rules surrounding them thanks to some sketchy practices by Universal Studios in 2003 (blog, Flashback Universe).

3 – HP Lovecraft

You might not have heard of HP Lovecraft before, but his influence has been felt throughout all of modern horror. Films like John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, “Ghostbusters”, and “Conan the Barbarian” all draw direct inspiration from his works. Furthermore, you may have heard of Lovecraft’s most famous creation, a tentacle-faced beastie named Cthulhu.

Most of Lovecraft’s works entered public domain in 2008, 70 years after his death, though there is still some contention over a few of his titles. You can learn more on his Fandom page.

4 – The Wizard of Oz

Twenty-four of L. Frank Baum’s original Wizard of Oz books are part of the public domain, having timed-out 95 years after their first release.

However, the popular 1939 film has yet to enter the public domain, as MGM continues to renew its trademark. As long as the law remains the same, the film starring Judy Garland will join the books in the public domain in 2035.

5 – “Les Miserables”

Victor Hugo’s incredibly popular novel and play, “Les Miserables”, was written in the 19th century. Therefore, it is firmly in the public domain.

But, like the aforementioned titles, movies made around the property are separately trademarked and can’t be used.

Additional public domain books:

• “Tarzan and the Golden Lion” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• “The Time Machine” by HG Wells
• “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
• “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• “The Odyssey” by Homer
• “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
• “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas
• “The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stephenson
• “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville

Images

In addition to films and books, there are plenty of famous works of art, photographs, and even logos that are in the public domain as well.

1 – NASA logo

An item that’s frequently trending: the NASA logo. Like many other government produced images, the logo is in the public domain.

However, there is an important exception.

According to the Wikipedia article on the NASA insignia, “their usage is restricted under Code of Federal Regulations 14 CFR 1221. These NASA emblems should be reproduced only from original reproduction proofs, transparencies, or computer files available from NASA Headquarters.” You can find those files on NASA’s website.

2 – Mona Lisa

Many famous paintings are in the public domain. For example, the Mona Lisa is in the public domain because the painting’s artist, Leonardo da Vinci, died more than 70 years ago. Keep in mind, however, that not all photographs of the Mona Lisa are public domain. You will need to find open source images that are also in the public domain; the alternative, of course, is to drive to France and take pictures of her yourself.

3 – Albert Einstein’s likeness

Know that famous picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out? Guess what? Yep! Public domain. Einstein’s publicity rights expired in 2005, 50 years after his death, as deemed by the California Federal Court.

4 – Vintage posters

Many vintage posters from the 1920s and earlier are part of the public domain, having expired 70 years after their trademark. Old travel posters, for example, are making a strong comeback, many of which were created for the railroad industry in the late 1800s (blog, Library of Congress).

5 – NASA images

Speaking of NASA, all of the images that NASA creates are also part of the public domain, including shots taken by the Hubble telescope, pictures of the Apollo missions, and plenty more. Much of it can be found directly on NASA’s image gallery.

Additional public domain images:

• Felix the Cat
• “American Gothic” by Grant Wood
• “V-J, 1945, Times Square” by Alfred Eisenstaedt
• Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet
• Rosa Parks mugshots
• The smiling black ape photo
• White House photostream
• Stills from public domain photos
• Images of people dead for 70 years or more (see the Einstein example above)

Public Domain Business Books

there are many top quality money and business books in the public domain that are just as relevant today as the day they were first published. Here are some great self-help books that are now public domain books.

They have been carefully selected and since they are all in the public domain in the USA they are copyright-free, royalty-free and available as an instant download.

Speech Power

Speech Power by Adelbert Brown
Published in 1962 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Length: 253 Pages & 58,166 Words.

The Master Salesman

The Master Salesman by Robert Ruxton
Published in 1922 by American Writing Paper Company.
Length: 112 Pages & 20,862 Words.

Successful Selling in 21 Steps

Successful Selling in 21 Steps by W. L. Halberstadt
Published in 1958 by Exposition Press Inc.
Length: 114 Pages & 35,236 Words.

The Power of Creative Selling

The Power of Creative Selling by Earl Prevette
Published in 1954 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Length: 223 Pages & 67,116 Words.

How To Turn Your Ability Into Cash

How To Turn Your Ability Into Cash by Earl Prevette
Published in 1948.
Length: 129 Pages & 59,091 Words.

Handbook of Successful Sales Meetings

Handbook of Successful Sales Meetings by Bill N. Newman
Published in 1960 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Length: 222 Pages & 63,197 Words

How to Be a More Creative Executive

How to Be a More Creative Executive by Joseph G. Mason
Published in 1960 by McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
Length: 294 Pages & 96,053 Words.

How To Get Ideas

How To Get Ideas by Estelle H. Ries
Published in 1961 by Pilgrim Books.
Length: 158 Pages & 42,328 Words

How To Become A Successful Executive

How To Become A Successful Executive by Eugene J. Benge
Published in 1960 by Frederick Fell, Inc.
Length: 351 Pages & 69,908 Words.

Brain-Storming

Brain-Storming – The Dynamic New Way to Create Successful Ideas by Charles H. Clark
Published in 1958 by Wilshire Book Company.
Length: 245 Pages & 60,282 Words.

Public Domain Old Books

Effective 1st of January 2021, all works first published or released before January 1, 1926 became yours to have, to read, and to adapt! And what a year it was for literature. The full list is, shall we say, a little rough to navigate, so to make life easier we’ve gathered together ten of your best bets — and they’re all gems. 

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Without a doubt, the headliner of this year’s list is Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. If you’ve so far managed to miss out on reading this great American masterpiece, then 2021 is the perfect opportunity.

Now available at the low low price of completely free, there’s nothing to stop you from diving beneath the shimmering surface of the world of Jay Gatsby — a mysterious millionaire whose secret obsession will cause his unravelling in the hot New York summer of 1922. 

If you’re familiar with this haunting contemplation of the American dream and are after some pastiche, then you’re in luck: Michael Farris Smith has already made the most of this newly public-domained work, releasing Nick, an epic portrait of the man behind the narrator, in early January.

2. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Many more people have heard of Virginia Woolf than have actually read her works, largely because her vivid stream-of-consciousness storytelling has a reputation for being quite challenging. But now that Mrs Dalloway has entered the public domain, you can accept the challenge with no commitment. It’s the ultimate satisfaction-or-your-money-back guarantee! 

This probing, gentle portrait of a day in one woman’s life is one of the most important novels of the 20th century, and an excellent introduction to Woolf’s work. Plus, in our humble opinion, her writing contains some of the most beautiful sentences ever written in English.

3. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway’s first published work, and the first of his books to become public domain (with more coming soon — Hemingway fans, get excited), In Our Time is a collection of short fiction about life before, during, and after WWI.

Like most Hemingway novels, it is a catalog of suffering, loss, and loneliness, soaked in alcohol and overrun with violence: matadors are gored to death, cabinet ministers are lined up and shot, and Black men hang in a county jail.

As well as an introduction to many of the themes that run through Hemingway’s later works, In Our Time also provides us with a flavour of his sparse prose, and our first glimpse of the recurring character Nick Adams — making it essential reading for any Hemingway fan.

4. The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

With over seventy novels, plays, and short stories to her name, Agathie Christie is one of history’s most prolific writers, and her world-renowned mysteries have been steadily falling out of copyright and into the public domain for several years (lucky us!).

The Secret of Chimneys is the first to feature Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Battle, a man of stolid good sense who will be replaced by the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in the next four years’ releases — so enjoy him while you can! Otherwise, The Secret of Chimneys is classic Christie: a murder on a well-to-do estate, red herrings and misdirections, and lashings of unexpected twists. You can’t really go wrong.

5. The New Negro by Alain LeRoy Locke

If you’re familiar with the Harlem Renaissance, then you may have heard of Alain LeRoy Locke, the man who is widely considered to be the father of that intellectual explosion.

Perhaps you’ve even heard of The New Negro, for this 1925 anthology, edited by Locke, gave its name to the Harlem Renaissance — a revival of African-American literature and art known then as the “New Negro Movement”.

Between its covers are stunning works of prose, poetry, and nonfiction by seminal Black voices, including Langston Hughes, W.E.B Du Bois, and Zora Neale-Hurston. This is a meticulously curated celebration of the Black creativity of the era.

6. Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis

Arrowsmith, which chronicles a doctor’s rise through the scientific community, was written by Nobel Laureate Sinclair Lewis with the help of science writer Paul de Kruif — whose real-life expertise brings a heavy reality to this sharp-witted, satirical commentary on the state of American medicine.

Itis widely considered Lewis’s most accomplished novel, earning him the Pulitzer Prize the year after its publication. But he notably refused the prize, claiming that the committee was too narrow-minded in deeming any novel the “best of the year”. Of course, he accepted when the Nobel prize came in 1930.

7. Those Barren Leaves by Aldous Huxley

It’ll be a few years before Aldous Huxley’s genre-defining Brave New World drops into the public domain. But while we wait for Huxley’s sci-fi classic, we can chew over his deliciously satirical novel about the human tendency to feign sophistication. Those Barren Leaves finds a group of socialites gathered at the Italian palace of Mrs Aldwinkle.

Among the guests: a popular novelist who records her affair with another guest for future material; a broke and crusty intellectual pursuing a mentally-disabled heiress; and working man Mr. Falx, whose student in socialism, the charming Lord Hovendon, grows distracted by young love.

Were this another Agatha Christie novel, this sundry cast would find themselves tied together by a mysterious murder. Instead, they’re united by their posing and pretensions — to our equal enjoyment.

8. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

A storyteller to rival Dickens, Theodore Dreiser happened to write a true crime novel before the genre even existed, when he took a notorious murder case as his point of departure and penned An American Tragedy.

In Clyde Griffiths, the novel’s tragic hero, Dreiser paints a haunting portrait of an impoverished and insecure social climber, whose naive dreams of self-betterment drive him to commit a desperate and unforgivable act of violence.

Around Clyde, Dreiser paints in intricate detail the landscape of early twentieth-century America — its economic pressures, hypocrisies, and political corruption. This is not only a riveting true crime story, but also a heartbreaking social commentary with mythic force.

9. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

A firm favorite for Hollywood adaptations, The Painted Veil is a proto-feminist book about a young woman’s spiritual awakening (predictably published to a storm of protest in 1925). Kitty Fane is the young woman in question, a beautiful but shallow socialite married to a man she doesn’t care for.

Unsatisfied and love-starved, she starts an illicit affair with an exciting and attractive young man. But when her husband discovers her adultery, he exacts a strange and terrible vengeance, forcing her to accompany him to a remote village in China, where her awakening conscience compels her to grow.

10. A Daughter of the Samurai by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto

A Daughter of the Samurai is the memoir of a determined and keenly observant young woman who must navigate a path between two very different cultures. Raised the beloved daughter of a high-ranking samurai, Etsu Sugimoto had always been certain of her future in her community as a Buddhist priestess.

But, as a young teenager, she had to leave behind the only world she knew for an arranged marriage in the United States. Sugimoto is alive to the contradictions, ironies, and beauties of both cultures, as she learns both how to be a Japanese wife, and how to get by in nineteenth-century Ohio. Her memoir gives us a rare insight into the struggles and strengths of that first generation of Japanese immigrants.

How do Public Domain Photos Make Money?

The main idea here is to repackage the public domain pictures into usable products that has

Monetized photo blog 

As an example, this photo blog dedicate personal and amateur pictures into the public domain.  What that does is that it invites readers to explore the photo blog and in the process, may see what they looking for either in the actual photoblog contents [public domain pictures] or in the ads.  There are three factor that should be present in order for income to start trickling in.

• Content –  In the word of monetized photo blogs, quantity is king.  The goal is to have as many pictures as you can dedicate.  This will give your reader a broad range of selections.  Even bad photos can be used to create a whole entirely new product.  Remember, there are hundreds of millions of internet users.  Somewhere our there is someone who can turn your blurry picture of a dog into a work of art.  Trust me.  I have seen this happen.
• Traffic –  Before you can even monetize your blog, people should now your blog exist so you have to learn the basics of search engine optimization [SEO].  Remember to always follow good SEO practice to avoid getting banned by the search engines.  There are may ways to get your photo blog noticed.  One simple way is to responsibly share them to your social networks.  Make sure you also create back links by commenting on other blogs you like reading.
• Appropriate ads –  There are a lot of ads servicing companies such as Adsense or Chitika.  You have to have an established viewership before you can apply for their service.  Using either way works but make sure you read and fully understood their terms and conditions in order for you to know how to appropriately use their service.  You can also promote affiliate links on your photo blogs.

Design for online products

There are several online services such as Cafepress and Zazzle that allows you to upload your picture and it identifies possible products that can use your picture such as a design for a t-shirt or a design for a coffee mug.  These recently have been flooded with similar ideas and there is probably no new idea that can breakout from the millions of similar products but its worth a try.  

These services are also easy to use so if you can somehow find a way to get popular within these sites, you can probably make money using public domain pictures.  You can your public domain images as designs for greetings cards, postcards, posters, background papers, motifs, T-shirts, place-mats, mugs key-rings and many more.

Here’s a list of the most popular site where you can sell products with designs using your own designs including public domain pictures.  The success of each person depends on the work you put in, just just a regular job.

• Dreamstime.  Dreamstime is a stock photo website that sells millions of photos.  It also accepts member submissions where the member earn a portion of sales from the submitted photo.
• CafePress –  This is probably the most popular website where you can upload your images and make money from.   After you upload the picture you want to make money from, the website will identify products where your picture will be printed (like mugs, t-shirts, key chains, cup holders,pens, etc).  CARE PRESS will do the rest.  If someone buys the product, you earn commissions.  Just make sure you have a unique pictures.
• Zazzle.  This is similar to CafePress.
• Spreadshirt –   Just like CAFE PRESS, all you have to do is create your own tee shirt design.  I have seen people download some of my images and alter them to create nice t-shirt designs.
• Pikistore –  PIKISTORE also works like the above.  You can customize products where you pictures can be attached into.
• Lulu –  If you are very good in modifying pictures or creative some awesome visual product from my public domain pictures, you can create a book or something you can sell on LULU.  They have a very good commission so if you are very creative, this might be something you can try.  Maybe you can create a collection of flower pictures and add poems or haiku in them and create a book out of it or something like that.
• Blurb –  Just like LULU, if you can create a book out of my public domain picture and images, you can submit to BLURB and make money from it.
• The Game Crafter.  If you can somehow create a game using public domain picture, you can join THE GAME CRAFTER and submit the game.  They do the marketing and sales so when someone purchases the game, you get dollars in you pocket.  You probably use the public domain images of animals to create a whole new set of characters in a game.
• Imagekind –  This is perfect for photographers.  If you enjoy editing pictures and making something visually creative, you can submit your pictures to IMAGEKIND.
• devianArt –  You can submit your artwork using my public domain pictures to this website and make money when someone purchases it.  Its a large collection of art work for sale.
• Triond, Bukisa, Wikinut, etc –  If you do  not like to maintain your own blog, you can write articles with images and submit them to Triond, Bukisa, or Wikinut.  You make money from article views if you write good articles.

Sell as collection of work

You can collect public domain pictures and arrange them in a format that makes it easy for users to access. You can maybe collect public domain pictures of flowers, or public domain pictures of people or whatever.

How do Public Domain Books Make Money?

One of the classic ways to use public domain material to make money is to repackage or reprint old public domain works and sell them. You can do this! Here is a list of ideas:

PDFs – Amazingly enough, some people are making money selling PDFs of public domain books that are available for free elsewhere. Visibility is key!

Audiobooks – Another classic is to make mp3 “audiobooks” of famous classic books. People love to be able to listen to their favorite books – and if you have a few technical skills, there’s nothing at all stopping you from making a recording of a public domain book, and then burning the files in mp3 format to DVD. Again, another successful venture on ebay and an easy income stream once the products are created.

Read Also: Make A Living Selling Vintage Online

You can even short-cut this step: LibriVox makes recordings of public domain books and releases the audio in the public domain! Librivox is part of the Gutenberg project and has recorded over 12,000 books so far.

Book reprints – Other sellers are making or using photocopies of ancient / rare public domain books to make reprints and sell them for less than the rare original. You’ve probably seen these for sale on Amazon if you have an interest in old books.

Can I Sell Copyright Free Images?

In general, even images that purport to be “free for commercial use” are not. Unless you have express written permission from each copyright owner or a license from the owner of a group of works, it is risky to proceed.

This is because copyright protection includes statutory damages and attorneys’ fees for infringement—-regardless of lack of intent or non-commercial use. And I would not recommend relying on a fair use exception. It’s best to have an attorney who specializes in copyright analyze each instance before proceeding.

Can You Alter a Public Domain Image?

An image in the public domain can be copied, reproduced, distributed, etc. etc. because no one owns exclusive copyright rights to it.

But someone can alter a public domain work and copyright that new derivative work, and the new elements they add (BUT NOT the original expression of the work, which has fallen into the public domain) would be subject to infringement.

So if the someone in your query is you, you can sell your own derivative with words and color alterations. But if the someone in your query is someone else, and you want to alter their alteration, you should check to see if that someone is claiming a copyright in their alteration, and check with a copyright litigator to see if your alterations would expose you to a copyright infringement claim.