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(More customer reviews)Andras M. Nagy is a self-proclaimed gambler. The enterprise described in his book The Public Domain Publishing Bible is not to be undertaken by the faint at heart.
Public domain titles contain initial publication dates before 1923. According to U.S. copyright law, anyone can republish these titles for profit. Nagy stresses that it is imperative to add original content to these works in terms of illustrations, footnotes, introductory material, covers, etc. Otherwise, you will be competing with numerous versions of these titles republished without modification. He states that sometimes Amazon.com will not even pick up your version if you merely republish the text as is.
The field is also littered with what Nagy calls "copyright bullies." These individuals claim that they own the copyright to a public domain title. Their claim is invalid, but they will attempt to intimidate you by suggesting legal action. In the very least, their aim is to get you to cease publishing the work. Nagy urges you to stand your ground and demand proof of ownership. Personally, I don't know if I would want to run into potential legal problems. Nagy recommends hiring the U.S. Copyright Office to investigate the copyright status of a title before publishing it. It is a financial drawback at $150 an hour.
To make money Nagy uses print-on-demand (POD). If he has the only in-print version of a public domain title, he uses Ingram's Lightning Source to take advantage of the wholesaler's extensive distribution network. If he's competing against other republished versions, Amazon's CreateSpace has lower set-up fees. He recommends using free software applications such as Scribus, Open Office and Gimp to cut start-up costs. Nagy also discusses book scanning for those not interested in typesetting. Optical character recognition (OPR) scans the entire physical book allowing text to be directly inputted into a word processing program. You can hire a book scanning service or invest in the equipment to create your own scans.
Nagy goes on to explain publicity tactics for promoting your public domain catalog. His main focus is on creating a web site that is search engine optimized (SEO). He explains off-the-page SEO techniques such as blogger reviews, directory submissions and article & press release distribution. On-the-page efforts entail an ALT tag for every image, keywords in page titles and anchor tags for inbound links.
At times, Nagy drifts away from his subject when he writes about creating a screenplay or the IndieBound movement. These sections would have been better off as appendices instead of breaking up the narrative.
Nagy's 10 basic rules for public domain publishing are:
1. Be selective in what you publish
2. Add creative modifications
3. Sell wholesale
4. Republishing titles as is use CreateSpace
5. Do your own set-up & design
6. Use reasonable freelancers for what you can't do
7. Take a long term view
8. Learn to work with Amazon & Lightning Source
9. Work with independent bookstores
10. Write what you know. Stick to fields you like.
Overall, this is a comprehensive guide on how to republish public domain titles with a realm of useful resources and pertinent web sites.
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The Public Domain Publishing Bible: How to Create Royalty Income for Life, 2nd Updated Edition"Even though conventional wisdom suggests otherwise, creative people can copy other people's work and it is legal. How is this possible? By using the vast pool of creative works that fall into a category called Public Domain. This book shows how the author has built a public domain publishing company on a shoestring, how he has used his company to publish his own writing and how he optimizes his relationships with other publishing entities like Create Space, Lightning Source and Amazon. This Second, Updated Edition contains know-how on eBook publishing for the Kindle, Nook and Apple's iPhone and iPad devices."
Click here for more information about The Public Domain Publishing Bible: How to Create Royalty Income for Life, 2nd Updated Edition
