Is the Public Domain Market Saturated?

Creating and selling products culled from the public domain has been all the rage for some time now, especially for beginning Internet marketers. I am constantly asked if it is too late to get in on the public domain “rush,” and I constantly answer a resounding “NO!”

It’s never too late to Profit from the Public Domain

In fact, the later it is the more material there is that is released into the public domain. Besides, the savvy Internet marketer doesn’t merely reproduce public domain works, he or she recreates them and breathes new life into them, thereby creating entirely new works.

If you type “public domain” into any of the major search engines, you will be presented with so many websites you may think it is too late for you to even think about capitalizing on the concept of public domain material but that just isn’t true. For one thing, take a closer look at some of those sites. Sure, they are at the top of the search engine results today, but they may not be for long. Another thing, just because you see a plethora of articles written about how easy it is to make money using public domain works, doesn’t mean that all those people are actually doing it.

It’s not THAT Easy!

Contrary to hundreds, perhaps thousands of articles stating how easy it is to use free public domain material to make a kajillion dollars on the Internet, it isn’t as easy as all that. First, you have to search for legitimate public domain works, then if you’re smart, you’ll verify that those works are actually in the public domain, then you’ll need to download them (if they are online) and then the real work begins-making them your own creation.

You can actually spend quite a bit of time optimizing public domain material in order to repackage it and sell it as your own. While many articles call this practice “the lazy man’s way,” it takes a lot more than lazy to make quality products out of public domain works.

Get Creative!

Don’t limit your public domain search to the Internet. Sure, it may be easier but many of the best public domain materials you will find are offline. Think used bookstores, libraries, estate sales, garage sales, flea markets, and the like. Yes, you will then need to spend time, money, or both digitizing your find but if you get creative and come up with unique products, it will be worth it! When you’re searching the brick and mortar world for public domain content, don’t limit yourself to just books. You may also find old magazines that are now in the public domain and those are indeed a treasure trove!