How to Publish Public Domain Books and Why You Should

YOU ARE READING: How to Publish Public Domain Books and Why You Should AT PhebinhvanhocEN

We all know it’s wrong to plagiarize someone else’s work. Since English high school, we’ve been taught that cheating is bad and, in professional cases, can lead to a cease and desist letter if you’re lucky, and a lawsuit if you’re not.

But what if I told you there’s a lot of stuff you can use, you won’t get sued, you won’t have to pay anything, and you can make money doing it? this allows you to diversify your income so you can focus on writing more books.

You are reading: How to publish public domain books

I’m talking about public domain content. now, getting this right requires much more than simply selecting works from the public domain and publishing them. there are guidelines to follow and certain restrictions to understand.

Luckily, I have all of that covered in this article.

Disclaimer: kindlepreneur is not a legal entity and cannot provide legal advice. Before posting a public domain title, be sure to do your research to make sure it’s in the public domain, or consult an attorney. Also as a warning, some of the links in this article are affiliate links, but this costs you nothing extra and every penny we earn goes to the coffee fund.

what is a public domain book?

A public domain book is a book that is not copyrighted. was created without a copyright license or the copyright has expired. most countries have a copyright that protects the book for 70 years after the death of the authors.

When a book is no longer copyrighted, it can be copied, sold, adapted, etc. for whoever wants it.

Copyright law can be complicated and varies from country to country. That said, copyright law for written content tends to follow a few easy-to-remember rules.

copyright in the usa uu.

originally copyrighted in the us. uu. it lasted 28 years after the work was written, and an author had the opportunity to renew that copyright for another 28 years.

In 1978, that law was amended to 75 years or the author’s life plus 50 years. in 1998 it was further expanded to 95 years after publication or the life of the author plus 70 years.

Basically, if I die tomorrow, you’ll be able to use my books in 2091.

what this means is that anything published 95 years ago is fair game. As of this writing, that means anything published before January 1, 1926 is in the public domain in the United States. that date changes at the beginning of each year.

There are some books published after 1925 that are also in the public domain, if the publishers did not extend the copyright after the initial 28-year period. But proof of public domain status for these books is sometimes hard to find, and you’ll need it to publish on a platform like Amazon.

copyright worldwide

Each country has its own rules for copyright expiration, and you’ll want to check individual copyright laws before posting in any country.

That said, most countries follow the “life plus 70” rule.

but this is where it gets complicated. What happens when your book is in the public domain in one country and not in another?

This can happen if you have an author who published a work before 1926, but died after 1951. In that case, the copyright would extend for most countries until after 70 years after the author’s death. author, but not in the united states if the work was published before 1926.

In short, you should do your research. Not all books may be published in all countries.

Is it legal to make money from public domain books?

Once a book is in the public domain, you can do whatever you want with it. you can:

make derivative works: these are works you produce that are inspired by or derived from public domain content. This is the Disney equivalent of taking fairy tales, turning them into animated movies, and running them through their merchandising machine. derivative works are great because you can copyright what you create. so while pride and prejudice are common knowledge, pride and prejudice and zombies are not.

Copy the language directly: When something is in the public domain, you can quote and use the language in any way you choose.

Sell your own copies: You can even take the entire public domain book, make copies, and sell it as-is, no questions asked.

There are basically no restrictions when it comes to your use of public domain material.

Note: Although we’re talking specifically about books and published material here, the same applies generally to art, music, and other media.

Amazon restrictions on publishing in the public domain

While you can legally do whatever you want with public domain books, Amazon has some additional restrictions for those who wish to publish these books online via direct Kindle publishing.

Amazon’s policy officially states:

“To provide a better customer experience, we do not publish undifferentiated versions of public domain titles if a free version is available in our store. differentiated works are unique.”

This means that for any public domain work that is freely available on the amazon store or online (which is a considerable amount of content), you can’t just copy and paste it into a word document and expect to sell it. in the kindle store.

note: Please note that this only applies to the kindle store. if you publish a paperback with kdp print, that doesn’t have the same restrictions. however, you will need to prove that the book is in the public domain.

So, how do we “differentiate” ourselves enough to be considered unique? Amazon offers three different options.

translations: if you master a second language well enough to translate a book from one language to another, it will be considered a unique work. this is perhaps the hardest on the list, as a simple google translate won’t do it. you need to know both languages you’re using, and a full translation can sometimes be more difficult than writing the book in the first place.
annotations: can be anything from summaries of chapters, historical background, biography of an author, explanations of unknown words, usually a mixture of all these things. consider adding your own notes to the text. for some, this will be the easiest way to differentiate.
illustrations: if you are an artist, all you have to do is add ten original illustrations to the text to be considered unique . These must be your own work and may not be copied from other public domain sources.

When uploading a book to kdp, keep in mind that you’ll want to include your unique qualifier in the title. example: “pride and prejudice [illustrated]”

There are a number of techniques that Amazon specifically does not consider unique. these include:

a linked table of contents
formatting enhancements
collections
sales ranking
price
freely available internet content

Collections are a popular way to present public domain content to add value to the reader. However, while it might be nice to be able to purchase the complete works of Jane Austen, doing so will not be considered “unique” in the eyes of Amazon.

can you copyright separate public domain books?

The short answer to this is yes and no.

You may copyright any unique contribution to your specific version of public domain content. for example, you can copyright any original artwork you’ve created for the story.

However, you cannot copyright anything that was previously in the public domain. On the opening of your copy, you may want to include a copyright disclaimer such as:

step 1: find public domain material

So you’ve finally decided you want to try publishing your own public domain books, maybe because you think you can do better than a lot of other publishers, or maybe you just want to make them your own. .

but where do you find something to post?

There are several great resources that offer public domain content. consider the following:

project gutenberg: This site has over 60,000 public domain e-books. and it is by far the best resource on this list. if you can’t find the public domain title here, there’s a much lesser chance of finding it elsewhere, with a few exceptions. it’s also where I get most of my public domain books.
archive.org: another great resource with tens of thousands of public domain books , as well as many other materials, including magazine scans, film, audio, and more. this is where i have gotten many things like original scans of a book or magazine.
sacred texts: this is a site that specializes in religious works from a wide variety of religions is one of the best resources for public domain works that are religiously based.
librivox: not for ebooks or print, but contains audiobooks of many classic domain books although you can’t upload them to acx, you can include them as bonus material on your website or in other creative ways.
authorama: authorama is a site that focuses on the greatest authors along the history. it’s a good place to get the classics.
classics literature library: this site is associated with the gutenberg project but is notable for having large collections public domain works, especially from popular authors.
Google Search: You’ll likely find what you’re looking for with the resources above, but if not, there are plenty of other resources , sometimes genre-specific, which are just a google search away. To get this right, I recommend searching for the job you’re looking for, and then adding something like “full text” or “pdf” to the end of your search. if you don’t see it appear anywhere, it probably doesn’t exist in digitized form. but don’t let that necessarily stop you. if there is demand for the work, you could transcribe it and make it available yourself!

but how do you know what you want to post in the first place? there are 60,000 publishable works on the gutenberg project alone, and none of us can publish it all.

chances are you already have something that interests you. start there. sometimes asking yourself what you would like to see is the best way to do it. because if it’s something you’d be interested in, chances are someone else feels the same way.

You can also check out upcoming movies based on public domain books to see what might be popular in the future.

Pro Tip: In my experience, publishing public domain books that are already very popular often leads to fewer sales because people can get them from more established sources. on the other hand, posting something too obscure can have the same effect. Look for books that have potential audiences but not too many versions on Amazon, there’s a sweet spot to shoot there. That said, if it provides enough value to the reader, it doesn’t matter how popular the public domain book already is. you can still do it, but you’ll have a lot more competition.

Once you have a text in mind, it’s time to move on to the next step.

step 2: differentiate to add value

This is the part where you make your freely available book unique. Amazon not only requires it, but it’s a good idea for you. since everyone is capable of publishing the same book, the differentiation you add is what will set it apart.

As mentioned above, you must differentiate by translating, annotating, or illustrating the public domain title.

We recommend annotating or illustrating the work. but here are some specific ideas to do it:

create a “modern text” translation with more contemporary language
add a glossary of terms at the end of the book
provide chapter summaries at the beginning or at the end of each chapter
create footnotes with explanations of hard-to-understand words or phrases
hire someone at fiverr to create 10 simple (but professional) illustrations

This is just a list of ideas. just remember that it must align with amazon’s guidelines to be translated, annotated, or illustrated to qualify.

Collections are another great way to add value. Although a collection by itself won’t be considered unique by Amazon, it’s still a great way to engage readers. add some annotations or illustrations and you have a winner.

note: remember that you want to add value for the reader. While putting together a few lukewarm summaries or illustrations that look like they were drawn by a child is technically within Amazon’s terms, it’s likely to lead to bad reviews.

step 3: formatting using atticus

Most of the public domain text you can get online will be in html or .txt format, which means it will look awful if converted to an ebook or pdf. some formatting is required.

There are many formatting tools, but none make this process easier than atticus.

affordable package comes with all the tools you need to get beautiful public domain books, including:

print format that takes care of all margins, trim sizes, gutter layout and more
a ton of chapter heading themes to make your book look professional and stand out. stand out from the crowd
a custom chapter header theme generator to make it 100% yours
an easy way to copy and paste your public domain text into a variety of elements of chapter
all for the price of $147, which is over $100 less (and with more features) than the leading alternative, vellum

this is how you format a public domain book in atticus:

create a new book
upload your public domain text (and images, if applicable), chapter by chapter
add any front or back material you want to customize it (recommended)
add your distinctive material, such as footnotes, annotations, or illustrations
select your chapter theme and style using the pre-made themes or the custom theme builder
export your ebook or print pdf

It’s a simple and easy process, and can take less than 30 minutes for your standard public domain book.

atticus is the all-purpose solution for people who want to format a large number of public domain books quickly and efficiently. And atticus is unique in providing all the solutions authors need on all platforms, including windows, mac and chromebooks.

step 4: develop your cover

A cover is another area where you can really set your book apart from the rest.

In this, we recommend taking the same approach as with any book: understand the genre and design accordingly.

what this provides is the opportunity to take an old book and “update” it from a design perspective for modern audiences.

where to get a cover

If you have design skills, you can do it yourself. but if not, we recommend hiring someone to create your cover.

Because too many covers can hurt your wallet, one of the strategies we recommend to reduce expenses is to create a cover template.

with a template and minimal skills in photoshop, canva or similar software, all you need to do is swap a stock photo or two and change the title. A template has the added benefit of branding each piece of public domain text you want to sell, giving you a consistent look.

this will not work all the time. certain genres will require different looks. I wouldn’t use the same template for pride and prejudice that I would use for frankenstein, for example. but this should give you a general idea of what to look for. covers don’t have to break the bank to be quality.

some great places to get covers include:

damonza
ebook launch
creativindie

check out our cover design section for more information on how to create a quality cover.

step 5: release your book into the public domain

once you have your book, differentiated it, formatted it, and added a nice cover, you’re ready to publish.

The publishing process is almost identical to publishing a normal book on kdp, with one minor exception. During the process, you will see this appear:

select “this is a public domain work” and then continue normally from there. see our book publishing area for more information on this process.

Pro Tip: When selecting your price, you’ll notice that only the 35% royalty option is available. That’s because Amazon doesn’t offer the 70% option for public domain books. that’s why we recommend a price of $.99 to maximize the number of sales and provide the most value to the reader. chances are most of the competition will do the same.

Once you’ve submitted your book, you’ll likely receive an email from Amazon asking for proof that your book is in the public domain. this will generally require the name of the author and/or translator and the date of death. for very old works (also known as pre-1900), this is generally not a problem, but beware of newer translations, authors who died less than 70 years ago, or rare cases where the date of publication is unknown. author’s death. While you still have a chance to publish these texts if they really are in the public domain, you may have some back and forth with Amazon until they’re convinced.

In some cases, you may need to adjust small details of your listing, as Amazon takes the legality of what it lists very seriously.

case study: letters to cicero

In preparation for the release of atticus, we took some public domain text, formatted it, and published it on amazon. and guess what? without any marketing, the text already had several sales within a few days of the publication date. within a few more months i had recouped the cost of atticus, and that’s just with 3 books and no marketing. Imagine what would happen if you had an entire library of public domain books?

If you’re worried about the price, don’t. Not only is Atticus nearly half the price of Vellum, but you can easily make your money back by publishing some public domain books using Atticus.

As someone who has published a handful of public domain titles (formatted in atticus), I can tell you that I easily recoup the price of atticus on a monthly basis with my own library of public domain books. In my case, and in the case of the Cicero books we published, it took zero marketing to get those sales.

that could be you.

the end result: publishing public domain content

It is a universally recognized truth that a classic book held by a good audience must be in need of a publisher.

for many authors, publishing public domain content is another way to diversify income and create something fun on the side.

While publishing in the public domain is unlikely to bring you enough money to retire, it is true that there are literally tens of thousands of books you could publish. There is still some work to be done in preparing these texts for publication, but the most difficult step (writing the actual book) has already been done.

and even if you don’t make a lot of money doing this, there’s a good chance you’ll make enough to pay back what you spent on atticus, and maybe even some book covers!

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