Selling public domain ebooks on amazon

The review period was also significantly longer than usual. With the public domain, it was 36 hours instead. Once I provided the requested information, I had ZERO problems publishing the public domain work on Amazon in both ebook and paperback formats. Links will be in the show notes. KDP Select allows you to run a couple promotions like a 5-day free promo and countdown deal.

In exchange for that, you must let Amazon have exclusivity for 90 days. Be sure to grab the show notes at HeyYoAva. Writing books is a process that can take a lot of time and effort.

When you publish works from the public domain, you are able to circumnavigate that process. I added workbook-type sections after each chapter. The reader can skip these sections if they choose or use them. I was able to produce what I feel is a better product, and I put in the work to do that. The direct result and benefit of that work is being able to turn a profit from it through self-publishing.

However, that was not my main objective. My main objective and benefit for publishing a public domain work was furthering the reach and quality of a book that has touched my life in a positive way.

Public domain books are classics for a reason. They enhance any bookshelf, and if you truly can add to a work in a meaningful way, then you absolutely deserve to reap the benefits of publishing from the public domain.

The bottom line is if you get a copyright complaint on your books, that book gets blocked…end of story. If you do so repeatedly, you could get banned. I think the ban is an IP ban, so there are loopholes for creating a new account, but if Amazon finds you, they will ban you again even if you have not repeated the previous offense.

If you get thumped with a copyright dispute that goes to court, you could be charged with infringement like Moppet Books. They decided to create picture books for kids based on classics from Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, and more. They ended up with 9 counts of copyright infringement to be exact. To go into this thinking of it as a get-rich-quick scheme is just ignorant. Let me put it in perspective for you. When Amazon launched Kindle in , they imported tens of thousands of books from the public domain to be available for free on their platform.

This was one of their main marketing strategies, and it worked! Also, public domain books have lower royalty percentages by default. So publishing in the public domain should only be considered a passion project in reality. It feels amazing to be back with you! Get in touch at HeyYoAva. If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing in your favorite listening app at HeyYoAva.

Also insert a table of contents. This is tricky. Format your book. The formatting must done correctly, otherwise the book will look funny after it goes through the conversion process. You should set the paragraph indent before you even compile the book. Also insert a page break after each chapter. If you don't, then the text will all run together. Create a cover. You can create your own cover or use Amazon's Cover Creator. The Cover Creator will walk you through the steps of choosing a design and the layout.

The shortest side should be at least pixels, while the longer side should be at least 1, pixels. The cover image cannot be greater than 50MB. Cover art that is white or a very light color should have a thin border added to them so that they stand out. Part 3. Create the book details. You have to fill out information about the book, such as the following: The book's language.

Book title. The tag you use will depend on the original content you provided. Remember to include the name of the person who authored the public domain work.

You get characters to describe the book. Remember to include information about what you added to the book. You can select up to seven keywords. These keywords help customers find your book. The age and grade range of your reader. Upload files.

You're now ready to upload your Word document or other file and your cover image. If you need to use Cover Creator to make a cover, then you can do so now. You should also preview your book by using the Online Previewer. Read through the entire eBook looking for errors.

KDP will also identify typos. Review these carefully because the program sometimes identifies words that are spelled correctly. If you find something wrong with the formatting, then go back through your Word document and make corrections before uploading the corrected document again. Select a price. You also must price competitively.

Look what other versions of the book are selling for on each vendor's website. You can price a little higher if you are providing substantial extra value. However, you generally don't want to be too high. Register the copyright in your original contribution. If you provide a study guide or academic essays to a public domain title, then be sure to register the copyright in your material.

You can't copyright the public domain material, but you should protect your own original contributions. You don't have to register in order to have a copyright in your material. However, you must register before you can bring a lawsuit in the U. Yes, you can. Make doubly sure that they actually are public domain ebooks - not every ebook you can obtain for free is in the public domain.

Some are still under copyright or a restricted creative commons licence. Yes No. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 0. I want to make an eBook that is in the public domain, but I cannot find what to put on the copyright page of the eBook, can you help? Upnorth Here. You might want to start with Make-a-Copyright-Notice for a framework for what needs to be there. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Unpublished works made for hire e. Remember to credit the translator in the contributor field, or use Anonymous if it is an old work without a name. When you annotate, you include literary critiques, biographies, historical context, and even study guides. Some publishers will offer workbooks and discussion questions with the answers after a chapter in the book.

Some write a short paragraph at the beginning of the book as their annotation. Illustrations are powerful visuals that add value to any ebook. If you want to add this feature, you need a minimum of ten illustrations related to the story. That goes to say the choices have to be period-correct, similar art execution, and relevant to the book title. Amazon will consider selling the public domain book with the three unique differentiation.

It does not consider the following changes to qualify as a differentiated version from the original work. You have a space for your headshot, biography, blog posts, and connect with the book shoppers on Amazon.

Fill up the three-screen process to set up the book details:. This is billed to you when a reader uses the pay-per-click PPC model.