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Create profitable information products from freely available public domain works

Author Yanik Silver describes an exciting way to create content for your information product that I hadn’t given much thought to until I read his book, Moonlighting on the Internet: 5 World-Class Experts Reveal Proven Ways to Earn Extra Money. It recommends taking advantage of information in the Public Domain, that is, information that is free to use in any way without being prohibited by copyright.

(Check with an attorney to confirm the copyright status of any product you decide to use, especially if you plan to make money from it. Copyright law varies from country to country, so check your laws if you live outside of the United States.) USA).

He describes how he created products that he sells for thousands of dollars a month from information in the public domain. Where did you find this information and how did you make sure that what you used was not copyrighted? To answer that question we need to understand current US copyright law. Here’s what’s available without copyright:

1. Facts, figures, ideas, titles, etc. – Works granted or donated to the public domain. Some copyright holders explicitly donate their work to the public domain. Yanik cites the example of PT Barnum’s autobiography that the author donated to the public domain when he wrote it.
2. US government work or agents. Almost all federal works are in the public domain, and some state publications are as well. There is a lot of useful information that can be used, for example:
• firstgov.gov
• gpoaccess.gov
• town.gsa.gov
• access.gpo.gov
• google.com/unclesam
3. Formerly copyrighted works that have fallen into the public domain for a variety of reasons. There is a lot of additional information on this at the Cornell Copyright Center.

Once a work is in the public domain, you can use it any way you want. Here are some ways:

1. Rename the work
2. cut/paste parts of it
3. Use a chapter and insert it into your information product
4. use the ideas and reformulate

If you make significant changes, you can also reapply the copyright. How’s that for a great idea to create your own information product to make money?