by Harval Pearce
As a Public Domain researcher, determining whether or not a book, image, audio or video resource is in the Public Domain can be a daunting task,
unless your best friend happens to be a copyright lawyer. I
have discovered some secret ways to “allow” others to do
some of that copyright research for you, at no cost to you.
Now, I am not a lawyer (and do not play one on TV), so I do
not offer this information to you as legal advice, but this app-
roach has saved me a lot of time and effort and has proven
extremely valuable in my own Public Domain research. Here
is the “secret” strategy: Discover what other information
publishers are already selling, then obtain your own copy and
sell the same thing. Monkey see, monkey do. Here’s what I
mean…
I’m sure most of you have heard of Dover Publications. I
doubt that there is any company who has developed and
utilized Public Domain content more than Dover Publications.
Let’s say you see that Dover has republished an older publi-
cation that would fit well within your niche market. Chances
are very likely that since they are publishing it, they’ve
already done the copyright research to determine that the
resource is indeed in the Public Domain (as a matter of fact,
I’m quite certain they’ve done that research). Now that
DOESN’T mean that you can order a copy of Dover’s
product and then reproduce it for your own purposes. They
have their own version copyrighted or protected by license.
What it DOES mean, however, is that you can locate your
own original copy of the resource and develop it with some
confidence that it is copyright-free. I always say that you
cannot look for something that you do not know exists.
Researching Dover’s database (also know as their catalogs)
helps you “find” those gems, of which you were previously
unaware.
Here are a couple websites that demonstrate the power of
this “secret”:
• http://ayerpub.com/CategoryPage.asp
• http://www.euriskodata.com
• http://www.higginsonbooks.com/index.html
To maximize your research results using these types of
websites, be sure to:
1. Take a look at the products they are selling. Many of these
are based on Public Domain resources, and in some cases,
might even be exact reprints. The products they offer will
give you a good idea of just what is available...think about it
...there is a reason why THEY are selling it, right?! And it
certainly aids in your quest to have actual titles for the
books that fit your niche.
2. Pay attention to the information they offer about the
books or products they are selling. This is the same infor-
mation you can use to locate your own copy. Often they
will include the title, author, year of original publication
and more. Armed with that information, you can head
over to Abebooks or Alibris and search for the book there.
You can even plug the info into your favorite search
engine. Who knows, the book may turn up being online.
Remember, there are 85 million Public Domain books out
there.
Use their resources as a bibliography to discover obscure
titles by authors that may not be listed anywhere else. In
some cases, you may discover a complete listing of titles by
your author on these sites. Use this list as your own check-
list to find the books that will best serve your niche through
Ebay, Abebooks, local used bookstores or libraries (or one
of many other online or offline places).
Whatever you do, do NOT underestimate the value of this
type of Public Domain research. Many of my own greatest
Public Domain discoveries were made at some of these
types of sites. Take time to get to know these types of
websites—research them. You just might strike gold!
You can learn additional ways to turn Public Domain
content into pure gold here: CLICK HERE!
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