Finding Free Book Downloads


Finding and Using Public Domain Books and Literature

Finding books that reside in the public domain is a wonderful thing. This is the most used, however most populated type of material to be found within the public domain. There are countless titles written by some of the best authors to ever grace our planet and they are free for us to use. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Let's start by saying that millions of people around the world love books, there are so many people that can't resist the urge to purchase a new book, it almost talks to them as it sits there gleaming on a shelf. At the root of this group there are those that collect, love and cherish classic titles written by renowned authors and journalists. These are the people you would really like to target. Being that many of the materials found within the public domain are older works, this is really a gold mine waiting to be found by you. If you can put something together that will really build an interest throughout the book community and especially these collectors, you will be well on your way towards success.

That is really what makes books and other forms of literature one of the best types of public domain material to market and even reproduce. You already know who your audience is and what they want, many people that have this interest in older books don't care what it is about, what topic it covers, they enjoy them because of the history, the authors and of course the exquisite work that was often put forth to create one of these. So this is a great place for public domain new comer's to get started.

Where you can find some of these classic tales

As I mentioned above, the public domain book category is by far one of the most saturated areas. In other words there is just a lot more of them to be found. This is mostly due to the fact that we have had writers writing books for a lot longer than people have been creating television and radio. The other upside to using books found within the public domain is that this is the one category that the age really helps us make money. Because of copyright laws and the like, we are restricted to focusing a lot of our energy towards older material and in the minds of many book enthusiasts, like fine wine, books get better with age.

There are plenty of places to begin a search for public domain books. Aside from the online resources I will point out below, your local library is an exceptional place to find these in their physical form. Actually having the book in hand can be very valuable to us as marketers and I will show you why later on in this chapter. Colleges and Universities often have extensive libraries, with sections dedicated to classic titles. If you take the time to speak with a librarian they may also assist you in finding these older titles that are in the public domain.

Your next stop would be used book stores and thrift shops. Expect to pay more for an older book found in a used book store, but depending on the project it is probably worth it. Thrift shops are a great place to find some older titles you can usually get them for about a dollar.

1. Authorama is a great place to start your hunt for public domain books. What they have done is copied the books and saved them in a format to display on the web.
 

2. Project Gutenberg is a massive database filled with public domain books and fine literature. They have used volunteers to turn all of these books into ebooks, or electronic books that you can now download and use as you wish. This service will cost you nothing, although they do ask for donations to keep them going.
 

3. Aesop's Fables is a site that has provided us with of course over 600 original pieces out of the collection of Aesop's fables. They promise to continue adding the rest of this collection, but for now this is more than enough to keep you busy. Aside from being written for the web they also have audio narration for these works in their database.
 

4. The Internet Public Library is not only host to a ton of public domain books, they also have a lengthy list of other resources for you to visit, to find more.
 

5. Ibiblio is a great place to search for public domain titles. Although they do not categorize a specific section into public domain, they do have tons of older books to search through. I would suggest that you use some of the other resources listed here and then visit their site to see what texts you can find.
 

6. The Classic Literature Library offers a nice, although short list of free public domain books that have been compiled in ebook format for you to read and use.
 

7. Librivox offers free audio books that are created from public domain books. Volunteers take the public domain books, record them and them add them to the database. Not only is this a great place to find public domain works, it is also an excellent example of what can be done with public domain books.
 

8. There are many other small resources for finding these public domain books, but they often concentrate on small niches. I would recommend searching the major search engines for specialty type material like poetry, westerns and the like.

How to make money with public domain books

There are a whole lot of different ways to make money with public domain books. Out of all the public domain material they are probably one of the most versatile options to go with. The ways to use these fine works is limited only by the imagination, so really think about how you want use these and what method works best for you.

1. The first and probably most obvious use is to create your own public domain book directory online. Its funny because even though there are more public domain books than any other material, there seems to be less online resources, which means there is still room for more.
 

2. Convert public domain books into electronic format and sell them as ebooks on your web site or eBay. As I have said throughout this chapter, there are tons of people that just love these older classic titles, so give them what they want. After all, not everyone can afford a vintage collectors item, but they can afford the next best thing which would be your ebook.
 

3. Just as Librivox has done, you can convert these public domain books into audio books. Burn these books to cd and distribute them online. Audio books are great for road trips, disabled people and those of you that just don't enjoy reading, or would rather have someone else read to them.
 

4. Recreate Shakespeare and other plays. Perform then in your school, church or even performing arts center.
 

5. The public domain has a lot of great old time recipe books. You could combine some of these and create a very large and complete ebook cook book. Cook books are great sellers all year round and surprisingly sell for quite a bit.
 

6. Put together a nice collection of poetry, maybe you can separate it by style or poet. Poetry is another great seller and people would love a nice collection of classics.
 

7. Children's books are always a favorite. In the resources I have pointed out a web site that has a large collection of Aesop's fables, these would be excellent to start a nice book for parents, you can use public domain images to illustrate pages.
 

8. Simply put together an extensive list of public domain titles and some resources for finding them. Entrepreneurs looking to expand into this field, would definitely be willing to pay for it.
 

9. Setup a weekly podcast where you sit and read part of classic, popular public domain book or even poetry. You could then put them up on YouTube for extra exposure to your web site. This must be done tastefully to build interest among book enthusiasts, if you portray it as a joke, no one will listen to you.
 

10. Work with a publicist to create a remake of a classic book. This would require more money to get started, but if your book was to take off it would be seen on the shelves of every major book retailer.

Some examples of books and authors that are currently in the public domain

1. Hans Christian Andersen is a world famous author and one of the greatest writers of all time.
 

2. Alice in Wonderland is an amazing tale written by Lewis Carroll.
 

3. One of the all time best stories Frankenstein was first written by Mary Shelley, both are now in the public domain.
 

4. William Shakespeare is of course another wonderful addition to the public domain.
 

5. Daniel Defoe and his works such as Robinson Crusoe.
 

6. Charles Dickens was another wonderful writer with his most popular work A Christmas Carol.