Two Great Ways to Make Money from the Public Domain

It’s the most amazing source of product ideas and even complete products, it’s called the Public Domain, and it means you can pick and choose from millions of fabulous products, reprint them, sell them, charge what you like, and never have to pay a cent to obtain these hot selling items.

Here are just two ideas to get you started making money from items that cost you nothing because they are in the public domain.

*  REPRODUCE PLOTS FOR WRITERS

All fiction writers need plots.  These are plans of the main series of events or outlines of the action of a story, drama, novel, and so on.  Your customers might be short story tellers or writers of adult or children’s fiction.  You might also cater for specific requirements, including genres like spy thrillers, murders and mysteries, romance and science fiction.    

There is no copyright on plots, only the writing itself, so you could sell original or photocopied stories and novelettes from early magazines to writers attracted through writing magazines or on eBay itself.  Be sure not to breach copyright laws however and aim instead for public domain material.

*  REPRODUCE VINTAGE CARTOONS

The secret here is to look for copyright-free cartoons which you can publish as they are or revamp to suit today’s market.  As for other copyright-free material, although there is no law against lifting and using cartoons, it is arguably immoral and unethical to claim the work as your own. 

Overcome whatever problems might exist by redrawing or tracing and reworking the cartoon or at least changing something significant about the drawing or caption.  Sell through eBay and direct to editors, publishers, and writers through contacts in the likes of ‘Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook’ available from all booksellers and reference libraries.