Category Archives: public domain

Learning to write by studying bestseller fiction books. Novel? No – classics.

(photocredit: Amusafija) So begins yet another writing adventure. Found a great book, via Feedbooks, of a classic – “The Technique of the Mystery Story.” This gave me a complete inspiration to help writers learn to write better. This came up earlier … Continue reading

Posted in bestseller, books, Crime fiction, ebooks, feedbooks, fiction, Goodreads, public domain, Stephen King, writing | 1 Comment

Author Vs. Publisher – Creating Your Stable of Books

Stigma Be Damned – Creating a Steady Income by Publishing One of the funniest “stigmas” I ran into in researching for “Just Publish! Ebook Creation for Indie Authors” was that there was some emotional baggage with publishing your own books. … Continue reading

Posted in books, jape, launch, marketing, public domain, publishing, SEO, stigma, writing | Leave a comment

The first year’s fiction bestsellers study list is released!

Writers’ Club Homework Assignment List Relax – I didn’t mean to give you a flashback to college days (well, maybe just a little…) I was compiling the most popular classic fiction from Goodreads, Feedbooks, and Gutenberg.org – and came up … Continue reading

Posted in bestsellers, books, classics, ebooks, epub, fiction, paperback, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Drive Yourself Sane – Checklist for Self-Publlshing

It’s easier to plan things out and work your plan, especially when publishing many books at once. (photocredit: Seattle Municipal Archives) (I’ve been owing you an update to “Just Publish!” [see links above right] – and this isn’t a complete … Continue reading

Posted in Google Play, iTunes, John Locke, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, public domain, publish, Stephen King | Leave a comment

How to Publish Public Domain Books and Profit Nearly Forever, Part 1

(photo: 401(k) 2012) I found sometime this year that it was more profitable to publish than it is to write. And publishing copyright-free material was faster than about anything.[Update: the list of How-To steps have just been posted.] I now have … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon Kindle, book, iTunes, kobo, lulu, public domain, publish | Leave a comment

Some copyright notes – where to check for public domain issues

Some places to check for copyright orphans before you give up on that great public domain book. The safest approach is to only use books printed before 1923. That limits what people want to read, though, since the language and … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, createspace, Dorothea Brande, Internet Archive, kobo, lulu, public domain | Leave a comment

Lulu gets finicky about publishing ebooks – tsk, tsk.

Is the business plan for publishing public domain and PLR books dead? No, but the rumors would make you think so. (photo: seebrownflikr) Got this from Lulu today: Please note that we no longer accept public domain or other content … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon Kindle, google, iTunes, kobo, lulu, Nook, public domain | Leave a comment

Why Lulu Made Me Buy a MAC for Self-Publishing

iTunes, unlike Amazon, doesn’t seem to be a walled garden. But there are hurdles which they put in place to keep indie authors out. Here’s some solutions to the problem. (photocredit: Kyle MacDonald) This began for me when Lulu decided … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon Kindle, book, iTunes, kobo, lulu, public domain, smashwords | Leave a comment

How to Build a Public Domain (Self) Publishing Assembly Line

Publishing public domain books means volume and repetitive tasks – an assembly line. (art credit:Tobias Mikkelson) A one-person publishing “empire” is possible these days. Regular passive income can be made from re-publishing public domain as long as you: 1) Add … Continue reading

Posted in book, Calibre, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, public domain, publishing, Sigil | Leave a comment

Book Marketing That Actually Works: Part 1

Books are only paid journey invitations. They are not the journey itself. “You buys your ticket and you takes your chances.” While they make income, they are not your bread-winners, despite any individual bestseller. Your income comes from the teamwork … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, book, iTunes, kobo, lulu, Nook, public domain | Leave a comment

A Comparison of Distributors – Who’s on First?

Figured I owed you a no-holds-barred, warts-and-all review of the main distributors – from my experiences with them. The aggregators all charge something to post your ebook to the various distributors. Lulu is the cheapest, at 10%, Smashwords at around … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, google, GooglePlay, iTunes, lulu, Nook, public domain, Smashword | Leave a comment

Summary of Getting Started: Lists and Sequences

Tying it all together in a neat package means giving you a shopping list of stuff to do in what order. I. What distributors? Leanpub Lulu Google Play/Books iTunes Nook Amazon Kobo (OverDrive) This sequence is to get all possible … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, HTML, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, OverDrive, public domain, publish | Leave a comment

Leanpub Shows Their TImidity – Accepts Original Works Only.

(Logo property of Leanpub as trademark.) Just got suspended for “copyright violations” from Leanpub (on one account, anyway.) Means they don’t like public domain books. Scratch them from anything except original books. Which means they’re in the same category as … Continue reading

Posted in iTunes, kobo, LibreOffice, lulu, Nook, OverDrive, public domain, Smashword | Leave a comment

The Copywriting Classics Publishing Post-Mortem

(photo: School of Veterinary Medicine) Racking up a queue of public domain classics for publishing, does seem like an hygienic assembly line at times. This post-mortem is a critique of what went well and could be improved on this latest … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Calibre, Dale Carnegie, google, iTunes, lulu, public domain, publish | Leave a comment

New release: How to Earn Extra Income Through Your SOHO Publishing Business

Publish. Profit. Independence. Find independence and financial freedom from one of the simplest home businesses you can start from scratch – or less… Learn Tips and Tricks to make self-publishing pay well. I fell into this by accident. There I … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, Nook, public domain, publish, SOHO | Leave a comment

How to Game Amazon at Their Public Domain Publishing.

(photo: aktivioslo) Winning the self-publishing race can mean gaming the Publishing Godzilla. (Meaning: you can get around Amazon’s Public Domain policies and still be legal in your agreements with them.) You might have peculiar books which Amazon will query, but … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, iTunes, kobo, lulu, public domain, publish, Smashword | Leave a comment

Making Sense of Amazon’s Public Domain Policies

When the same policies get different results – it makes you wonder… (Two McCoy’s… photo: JD Hancock) We start with very simple Amazon policies regarding Public Domain (PD) books: In order to provide a better customer buying experience, our policy … Continue reading

Posted in American literature, Andrew Carnegie, book sales, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, public domain, Self-help book | Leave a comment

Update: The Distributors Discriminate (against your profits.)

In any book sales, it’s bulk vs. originality. There’s room for both. (Photo Credit: Phil Roeder) Viable book sales depend on volume of books first, quality second, originality third.  But this isn’t how the distributors see it. No reason for … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, International Standard Book Number, iTunes, Kobo Inc., LibreOffice, lulu, Nook, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Why Aren’t Authors Happy Publishing Their Book?

Most authors don’t make a lot of money from publishing… (Photo: Diana Brown) …and what they don’t know is killing them. I’ve done my own study of DBW’s author survey. In addition to their earlier year’s surveys, this also adds … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, E-book, Ebook Publishing, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, OverDrive, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Throw Away Perfectly Good Marketing and Make No Sales

What to Do When You Have Legacy Brand Mojo (Artwork: Wacky stuff) Public Domain publishing is profitable if 1) you take advantage of the brand awareness that already exists, and 2) you don’t do something stupid to make it undiscoverable. … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon.com, Assembly line, E-book, Google Play, International Standard Book Number, iTunes, OverDrive, Private label rights, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Cracking the Lulu ebook Reject Problem

A faster way to clear up those cryptic Lulu ebook rejects. Just a note in passing… I was working away converting and uploading when I stumbled on a faster and surer way to get your book through that meatgrinder that … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, E-book, epub, Google Play, HTML, LibreOffice, Portable Document Format, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Market Research Starts With Amazon?!?

Indie SOHO Publishing needs market research to succeed. Start with Amazon. (graphic: Chris Piascik) Why? Because they will tell you if your book as even a fighting change of breaking into the big time. While Amazon has been consistently shrinking … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, book, International Standard Book Number, iTunes, Kobo Inc., LibreOffice, lulu, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Publish Public Domain Books and Profit Nearly Forever – Part 2

(continued from Part 1) The How-To Tips of Publishing PD and PLR to Profit From Here On Out (Photo: Simon Cunningham) Sorry I didn’t give you exact steps last time. (Of course, you can get this from my books, “Just … Continue reading

Posted in Amanda Hocking, Amazon.com, Google Play, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, public domain, publishing, Stephen King | 1 Comment

Staring an Indie SOHO Publishing Career and Making Income Immediately

You Can Publish Your Friend’s, Neighbor’s, and Strangers’ Books From Your SOHO Publishing Business… (photo:epSos .de) …with no more than the tools you already use to publish your own books. It’s long been said that there is more money selling … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, book, iTunes, lulu, Print on demand, public domain, publishing, SOHO | Leave a comment

Why It’s Great to Be An Indie Publisher Now – Profit Forever

Why I Love Indie Publishing – Perpetual Passive Income Makes My Day. Oh, that’s right – I already wrote about this… I was reminded when I was looking to see if anyone else had been writing about publishing public domain … Continue reading

Posted in Amanda Hocking, Amazon Kindle, google, iTunes, Private label rights, public domain, publishing, Search engine optimization | 1 Comment

Rambling Prose and Lack of Focus Explain Why Tradition Publishing Fails

Traditional publishing Won’t Use the Tools That Make Indie Self-Publishing Work – They Can’t Afford Them. (art: Tobias Mikkelson) Found a great piece with gold nuggets in it.  His rambling prose is off-putting (how’s that for a typified descriptive phrase?) … Continue reading

Posted in Content marketing, Flickr, Goodreads, iTunes, LibreOffice, public domain, publishing, Search engine optimization, SEO, YouTube | Leave a comment

Getting Booksales on Amazon – and Everywhere Else

There are two distinct venues for selling books – Amazon and Everywhere Else. (photo: Nicholas Eckhart) This separation was made clear to me when I worked to publish a large handful of books to Amazon that I’d already published elsewhere. … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, book, E-book, iTunes, Nook, public domain, publishing, Search engine marketing, Search engine optimization, self-publishing | Leave a comment

A New Test of Successful Book Publishing and Marketing – From Scratch

Starting a new and successful book from scratch and marketing it – all as a test and lesson (Photo: Thomas Leuthard) We’re starting a new book, with a supporting book series, and are going to show you from start to … Continue reading

Posted in Dorothea Brande, Golden Rule, Google Play, iTunes, napoleon hill, public domain, publishers, publishing, self-publishing, SEO, think and grow rich | Leave a comment

Another distributor for self-published authors – Feedbooks

Found this outlet for new authors (again) – original works can publish on Feedbooks Strictly speaking, it looks like almost anyone can publish there, since I see that there are many public domain books published at various prices. Why don’t … Continue reading

Posted in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, bestseller, feedbooks, freebie, Goodreads, Lewis Carroll, public domain, self-publishing | Leave a comment

How to Really Profit from Self-Publishing – Follow the Disney Route to Success

Use public domain to inspire your own works – that’s their greatest, and most profitable use. The real reason for works returning to the public domain is to inspire the next generation. The long-dead authors no longer need to profit … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon.com, book, E-book, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, Private label rights, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

When to Cave Over a Fake Copyright Claim

When they have a lawyer and you can’t afford one. (Jurisdictionary – lousy packaging, great course.) Hopefully, you don’t have a lot invested in that book. Might be a crying shame, but get over it. The two questions you have … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, book, E-book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, iTunes, lulu, Private label rights, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Is there any Real Money in public domain (self-)publishing?

Why you can make a financially free lifestyle with public domain (self-)publishing, but getting rich (quickly) is elusive. (Photo: Jeneraly) For several years, I’ve been evolving the business plan of re-publishing public domain books as an off-shoot of self-publishing, Recent … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Copyright, E-book, Internet, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

The Great Amazon Suck – Why Other eBook Distributors Don’t

How to Blow-Off Any Chance at a Fan Base. (Cover: Seattle Weekly) [Rant Alert] For all the hype about Amazon, you will seldom see any fan clubs for Amazon or its execs. (Just lots of those “smiley” boxes.) That became … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, book, E-book, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, Nook, public domain, publishing, self-publishing | Leave a comment

Perfecting Passive Income Publishing for Profit

How to Make More Than Just a Living With Profitable Passive Income Publishing. (Image: WishIKnew…) It all started out by wanting to learn how to get books I’d written published and making enough to allow me to quit my day … Continue reading

Posted in author, book launch, epub, iTunes, Kobo Inc., LibreOffice, lulu, Market Samurai, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Sell Your Books Online, Old or New.

Selling books online doesn’t have to be hard, …but you have to know what to do when in order to be successful. (Photo: RIAN archive)  Just because your book never sold well doesn’t’ mean it can’t.  Just because most books … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon.com, E-book, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, passive income, Portable Document Format, profit, public domain, publishing, Scribd, smashwords | Leave a comment

An Author’s Guide to Memberships – How to Sell Books Online

Writers: Get Your Books Selling Online Better – Build a Membership I’ve long said (over and over) that the key to any author earning real income came from writing well and prolifically having multiple books for sale on all possible … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, AWeber Communications, Bookselling, Flickr, iTunes, lulu, Private label rights, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How I Got My Financial Freedom from Publishing Books

(artwork: keep_bitcoin_real – modified) You can publish your way to financial freedom. I did. It’s a story I haven’t really told before, but probably should have. I’ve been publishing books since around 2007, according records on Lulu.com – where I … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Assembly line, bestsellers, book sales, Bookselling, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Build a Profitable Business Plan – Selling Your Books Online

(photo: PlanToo47) Most Authors Don’t Have a Business, or Even a Plan Don’t worry about it. That’s why 97% of everyone on this planet die broke, including most indie and conventional authors. Charles Dickens ran a business. So does Amanda … Continue reading

Posted in Amanda Hocking, Charles Dickens, Dorothea Brande, E-book, Golden Rule, iTunes, public domain, publishing, Stephen King | Leave a comment

Why You Don’t Have to Be a Bestselling Author to Get Financially Free

(Photo: Alfred Cunningham) To Make a Living as a Writer, You Only Have to Publish Books Well. Why keep beating your head against a perfectly good brick wall? Look over some facts: Some bad books sell well. Some great books … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, author, Dorothea Brande, Golden Rule, google, Google Play, iTunes, napoleon hill, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Use Common Sense (and Search Engines) to Market Your Self-Published Book

(Photo: daniel julià lundgren) Developing a Common Sense Marketing Plan for Self Publishing – Why So Hard? When something “makes sense”, it’s when the logic and emotion agree. This is the point of sales, actually. And sales are hard to … Continue reading

Posted in Amanda Hocking, Amazon.com, author, Google Play, iTunes, Kobo Inc., Private label rights, public domain, publishing, Search engine marketing | Leave a comment

How to Market Test Your eBook – Before You Port to Amazon

(Photo: Wikipedia) Test Your Book’s Sales Ability Before a Big Amazon Release Simple really: sell everywhere else first. Why? Because Amazon is known as the new book graveyard. That is why there are so many, many books written about how … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon.com, Goodreads, iTunes, LibreOffice, OverDrive, public domain, publishing, Shelfari | Leave a comment

Solving Distractions and Getting Your Book Ready – Case Study 02

(Artwork: Birger King) You have to handle distractions to finish getting your book(s) ready for publishing. It’s not just the social media. It’s life itself. I’ve gone over the successful action of working in batches, of having a proven assembly … Continue reading

Posted in affilates, amazon, Assembly line, booksales, Flickr, google, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, public domain, publishing, video | Leave a comment

The Author as Producer – it’s not just about ebooks anymore. Case Study 04

Becoming a Media Producer: Even Better Than an Author The point I have to pause here is to tell you that you’ve just morphed into something more powerful and more creative than you’ve ever been before. Books, especially ebooks, have … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, iTunes, lulu, Market Samurai, Portable Document Format, public domain, publishing, Scribd, smashwords | Leave a comment

The Curse of Printed Art Books – and How to Remove it (Case Study 09)

If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here I can hear my Art Teachers “tut-tutting” in my head now. They were all very good at being constructive in their criticism. You knew you hit the high-level … Continue reading

Posted in art books, art training, book, Print on demand, public domain, self-publishing, walter crane | Leave a comment

How to Start a Marketing Bonfire for Self Publishing Sales – Case Study 12

If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here In the days before lighthouses, bonfires would be lit on the heights near a port to guide merchant ships safely to the harbor. If you stood on a … Continue reading

Posted in E-book, podcasting, Private label rights, public domain, publishing, self-publisihing | Leave a comment

How to Publish 76 Books In a Year

…And Earn a 6-Figure Passive Income for Life This podcast available for download. So much for that hiatus. Since you’re one of the brilliant, charismatic followers of this blog and podcast, you know I just gave you a complete brain … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, E-book, google, iTunes, lulu, passive income, public domain, publishing, steve scott | Leave a comment

My Google Play Books Were Killed and Replaced With Zombies

Your browser does not support the video element. Download this podcast They came for a friend of mine first, and I didn’t have anything to say. Then they came for me. Then I did want to say something, but it was … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon.com, livesensical, lulu, public domain, publishing, smashwords | Leave a comment

How to Completely Fail and Go Broke in Public Domain Publishing

Bottom line: it’s all a numbers game that’s been rigged against newcomers. Let’s go over some patently obvious facts: 1. Public Domain books are a commodity. They are sold like cattle at auction. People buy as low as they can. … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, broke, E-book, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Trolls and Bullies, in the Kindle Author Graveyard

Would you believe me if I said I had proof of Amazon KDP being a bully? How about that they are trolls as well? Well, it happened to me like this: I had a book up which got a DMCA complaint … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, book publishing, bullies, kindle, public domain, self-publishing, trolls | Leave a comment