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.
Create a Book Series
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.
Use These Public Domain Print Images For Other Product Ideas
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.
About The Author:
 Debra Conrad is an online entrepreneur, information publisher, and author that has been using Public Domain material to create profitable products and businesses since 2007. She is also co-author of "The Public Domain Treasure Hunter's Survival Kit" available here. For more info Debra, click here. |
|---|
[print_link]
Recommended Reading:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The copyright on the bug book is 1930.How is it in Public Domain?
Hi Terrie,
Any book published in the U.S. between 1923 and 1963 must have had it’s copyright protection renewed by the copyright holder exactly 28 years after the date of publication. In this case the copyright on this book was not renewed in 1958 thus allowing it to fall into the public domain.
Go to http://www.archive.org/details/39088001578236 and scroll down to the bottom. Under the Metadata section you’ll find a section called “copyright evidence”. Here the researcher indicates that no copyright renewal could be found.
Cool huh? Millions of books have fallen into the public domain due to non-renewals. That fourty year span is my favorite hunting ground for pd stuff simply because the vast majority of books published in this timeframe are in the public domain and better yet, haven’t made it online yet.
Thanks Terrie!
Logan