Publishing Public Domain Books
(Cover photo: Books on a shelf)
Hi everyone,
As there has been interest about publishing books on WA, I thought I would provide more info.
There are 2 major sources of public domain books.
Books where the copyright has expired.
Books or writings that were never copyrighted. An example of this is most things from the U.S. Government are not copyrighted including images. Do your due diligence in checking this out.
Books where the copyright has expired can be republished or used just about any way you like.
I have taken old books and rewritten them and became a co-author as a result.
I have reprinted them as is also.
Now it should be noted with KDP Amazon that they will often challenge a book you submit and request proof that the book is public domain. Their customer service is not well trained in this area so it can be frustrating and there is no one you can appeal to. Sometimes I just have to resubmit the same info again and again until someone finally accepts it.
Another thing to note with KDP Amazon is they are going to want to see the public domain book online so they can verify title, author, year published...etc.
If it is not available to be seen online, they will NOT accept the book. There are tens of thousands of public domain books online.
What do you do if you have a hard copy of the actual book and it is not available online?
What I do is I then publish the book through Lightning Source, Inc either in a digital format or have them scan the pages of the book. They do not ask you to prove anything about the book so that's a hassle avoided, but be sure it is public domain so you don't get into legal trouble. This is generally not a free service.
Every country has different copyright laws and some treaties can affect copyright as well. The more you work with public domain books, the more you will learn as you go along.
I will now give you specific info regarding books published in the USA before Jan 1, 1928.
Those are ALL in the public domain.
Note the last sentence:
"Effect of 1976 Act on Length of Subsisting Copyrights
The 1976 Copyright Act carried over the system in the 1909 Copyright Act for computing copyright duration for works protected by federal statute before January 1, 1978, with one major change: the length of the renewal term was increased to 47 years. The 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act increased the renewal term another 20 years to 67 years. Thus the maximum total term of copyright protection for works already protected by January 1, 1978, has been increased from 56 years (a first term of 28 years plus a renewal term of 28 years) to 95 years (a first term of
28 years plus a renewal term of 67 years). Applying these standards, all works published in the United States before January 1, 1928, are in the public domain."
This is from CIRCULAR 15A Duration of Copyright pdf from the US Copyright office.
www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a DOT pdf
That is what I now use with KDP Amazon to show books prior to 1928 are in the public domain.
After that year, its a lot more complicated whether a book is public domain or not in the USA. Different factors come into play and that can be researched. I have published a book from 1930 and another from 1957.
Generally all USA books from mid 1960's till today remain under copyright.
I believe the oldest book I have ever reprinted is from the 1500's written in very Old English where an s looks like an f. So I wrote it in Modern English. There are books that old that are still relevant and sought after today. I published that thru Lightning Source as its not available online.
Please note you should copy any of my posts that you find useful in case I decide to for whatever reason delete it later as has happened with about 800 of my posts in the past. Fair warning.
To Our Success!
Mel Waller
Recent Comments
33
I can understand that Jay. I'm slow, but I try to keep learning what I can. I'm self taught when it comes to publishing books so there is a lot I still need to learn. Moving forward is always better than moving backwards. :-)
Mel
When it comes to publishing books, I still have to learn what you already have learned. :)
JD
Do you know how to get an antique book assessed? I have a book written in Cree syllabics. As far as I know, there is only one other in existence from the late 1900s I have wondered how to get it appraised.
Jim.
Did you mean the late 1800's, Jim?
Sounds very interesting. If you want to PM me the title and author, I can try a quick search, but I'm thinking if its really rare I might come up with nothing.
Mel
I could find nothing regarding the value Jim, but I will PM you regarding a possible place to inquire.
Mel
See more comments
Hi Mel,
An interesting post, thank you.
I had never heard of Lightning Source, so Googled them and I guess they are owned by Ingram whom I have heard of and avoided when in self publishing.
A question on them. When you have them convert it, do you have to publish using them or can you pay them to take your hard copy and convert it to digital for you for a fee and then publish yourself elsewhere?
In my years of arbitrage I've come across so many older books that would have fallen out of copyright protection. Would be an interesting twist if I ever get back to arbitrage to add that to my arsenal.
Regards,
Jason
Hi Jason,
I never actually asked them that question. Smaller page counts book I have just rewritten myself so I did not need to have the original scanned by them. But others I have had scanned.
Mel