Public Domain Alchemy:

Turning Public Domain Content Into Pure Gold, Part 1
by Ramon Ross

Using Public Domain content to help build your online or offline business provides numerous opportunities for expanding your reach into virtually any niche market out there. It also can explode your income in ways that you may not even be considering.

Public Domain resources are available from nearly every primary media category including books, magazines, newspapers, government materials, photographs, artwork, movies, audio recordings, ephemera and software. In this series of articles, I take a look at each category and suggest ways to use those specific types of Public Domain content to expand your online or offline business.

Books
This category may very well be the largest of all the categories with over 85 million books available in the public domain. I have identified over 30 different ways to use or repurpose public domain content from books in to new products that could boost, enhance or compliment your online or offline business. Here are the first five.

• Republish content as-is in print form
You can easily republish public domain books into print for using print-on-demand technology. Scan the existing book pages to print as-is, or have the text transcribed or converted into text using OCR.

Example: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill has been republished dozens of times by different individuals and companies.

• Republish content as-is as a downloadable e-book
Republishing public domain books as e-books uses the same basic techniques used for producing print versions. Scan the existing book pages as-is, or have the text transcribed or converted into text using OCR.

Example: Gutenberg.org is an online leader in moving public domain books into electronic form.

• Republish content as-is along with other books on CD/DVD
If you have ever searched for books on eBay, you have no doubt seen collections of books for sale on CD. While some vendors offer thousands of books on one CD or DVD for a couple bucks, smart vendors are selling niche-driven collections for higher prices.

Example: B & R Samizdat is an excellent example of what can be done (and done well) with public domain book collections.

• Use content to develop Study Course with workbook
Why not take that favorite public domain book and write questions or exercises for the end of each chapter or for a separate workbook or study guide? This is an excellent way to breathe new life into a classic book.

Example: A number of public domain self-help books such as As a Man Thinketh by James Allen have been enhanced in this way with great success.

• Use portions of different books to create new thematic “collection” book
Using related or themed sections from a variety of public domain books is a great way to produce fresh, new materials for sale. By drawing from a number of titles, you increase the value of the collection and gain credibility from the “masters.”

Example: The book Great Speeches by Native Americans published by Dover Publications features a collection of speeches by Native American leaders that were excerpted from a variety of public domain books.

You can learn additional ways to turn Public Domain content into pure gold here: The Public Domain Code Book