Public Domain Product Ideas

Do you know a child who loves bugs? Betcha didn’t think those six legged creatures were crawling around the public domain. Guess what…they are and they offer myriad product opportunities.

Check this out. Go to archive.org and do one of two things. You can head to this book directly – Smithsonian Scientific Series - Insects Their Ways and Means of Living, or you can search texts with the keyword Insects and/or bugs.

The Smithsonian puts together a fantastic book. Inside you’ll find is an abundance of wonderful bug pictures and plates. These amazing images can be used to create coloring books - online downloads or print. They can be used to create fantastic wall art – imagine a giant grasshopper on the bedroom wall of a little boy. Or dragonflies and butterflies for little girls. There are pictures of roaches and bed bugs but I cannot imagine a parent putting those guys on the wall – however if there’s an audience here’s the opportunity!

The book is divided into sections and each bug receives full attention. Readers will learn all they ever wanted to know about the notorious Cockroach or the Termite. The images can be used to create stencils, cross stitch patterns, stickers, and iron-ons.

The text, all 431 pages, can be segmented into smaller insect books for children. And we all know how much children like to collect things right? Create a series of books, one for each major species, using the content in the Smithsonian Series and you’ll be able to create and sell a whole series all about bugs.

You can use some of the inside images for book cover art and create a truly professional product. Children are captivated by bright colors and all things gross, creepy, and crawly. Girls of course tend toward ladybugs, butterflies, and dragon flies. Boys probably prefer spiders, ants, grasshoppers and the more wiggly bugs. This book has it covered – whatever gender you want your product to appeal to.

Remember, children like to collect so bug trading cards using the information inside the book for your content and the images for the card graphics may be a great way to sell more than one product. You could create cards for each type of bug. There are hundreds of spider species for example and each species could be a specific card. The only thing you have to do to create the products is sort through the information and decide what each card will highlight and then find a printer nearby to create the cards. Quick product at a very low price – that’s the magic of public domain.

The Animal Kingdom According to Its Organization from the Foundation for the Natural History of Animals by Baron Cuvier is in the public domain. You can grab a copy of the series here http://www.archive.org/details/animalkingdomarr03cuvi.

Why would you want to grab this public domain book series on animals?

There are four volumes which means there’s an abundance of opportunity to repurpose or reformat the content. Each volume is divided by animal category and the third volume is a series of plates, images, of the animal kingdom.

This book series could appeal to an animal niche by creating smaller books for children about a particular animal species for example a book on mammals, a book on reptiles and so forth. The plates could also be used to create posters, coloring pages, coffee table books, and printer friendly images.

If your niche is more narrow than ‘animals’ and perhaps you have a business devoted to Lobster then the images can be used to create fantastic pictures, calendars, and even lobster classification postcards, placemats and other novelties.

The books are also packed with valuable scientific information so they can be reprinted as is, perhaps polished up with new covers and some more pictures, and marketed to budding zoologists, biologists, and even veterinarians.

Okay, what if you’re not in an animal industry?

The third volume is packed with seaside images – shells and sea creatures galore. Crabs, lobsters, and a bevy of mollusks and shellfish fill the pages of this gorgeous book. The plates could make for a fantastic seashore lifestyles niche product.

Spider fanatics will shiver when they see the image collection in the third volume. Imagine how fantastic little boys might find a picture book or poster with creepy crawly spider pictures!

If you’re looking for amazing animal graphics or cater to the animal lover niche then checking out this public domain book series is a must.

Adventurers and explorers have a way of capturing our imagination. The life or death situations they narrowly escape from, the risks they take, and the stories and images they come back with all spark excitement inside of us. The stories of explorers and their expeditions enable us to experience their adventures without having to strap on a pair of snowshoes and walk across the arctic tundra. We get much of the benefit without any of the pain!

Creating a product, a book about the explorations and adventures of famous explorers could take several years to create. Interviews, content, and images will all need to be collected or created. Who has time for that, particularly when there are truly magnificent books on the subject in the public domain?

The Last Secrets; The Final Mysteries Of Exploration by John Buchan is available on the public domain and is a real find for true adventure aficionados - http://www.archive.org/details/lastsecretsfinal00buchuoft. This book is jam packed with fantastic stories and even better images which stir the imagination and get the adrenaline pumping.

Open the book, or flip through the PDF, and the first image readers will come to is a striking photo of Mt Everest. There are more images of Everest later on as well as Mt McKinley and a wealth of maps and plates which when combined could create a fantastic stand alone product like a calendar or a coffee table book.

The Last Secrets contains nine stories of harrowing adventure. Each story could stand alone quite easily as a short book simply reprinted or you could add to each story with other known facts and images about that particular explorer, expedition or area. Everest, for example, has had hundreds of explorers summit each year and everyone has a story to tell. You could also dig up a few public domain magazine articles or images on the subject of climbing, exploring and unique areas like Everest, McKinley, and Kilimanjaro to supplement your mountaineering guide book, coffee table book or story.

The adventure stories in The Last Secrets can be updated with current maps and images as well as tips and advice for present day explorers who wish to follow in the footsteps. Your products could even include affiliate links to travel books, organizations, and adventure gear. The possibility to profit from this public domain gem is just waiting for the right person. You?