As I write this, I’m on a flight to Atlanta for Mike Litman’s Ultimate Success Seminar 2005 with my buddy Pat
O’Bryan.
In case you haven’t seen it, Pat pulled off quite a coup last week. He sold nearly 1000 copies of a book he didn’t even write.
How did he do it?
Pat took advantage of US law that allows anyone to publish books available in the public domain.
While browsing through an antiques store one day, Pat came across a stack of old self-help magazines from the early 1920’s. Fascinated by what he read and discovering Pelmanism was in the public domain, he purchased a stack of them for just a few bucks.
He discovered several full-page ads for a type of self-improvement course called Pelmanism. After a quick
search on eBay, he found and purchased a collection of all 12 Pelmanism books for just a few dollars.
He then spent four or five hours scanning the books into Microsoft Word and wrote an online sales letter that incorporated the original Pelmanism ads.
When Pat and Joe Vitale announced the Pelmanism books to their mailing lists, they were astonished at the results.
They thought they might sell a couple hundred at most. Instead that ebook continues to bring in orders with no end in sight.
I believe Pat’s total investment was about $20 and about a day to scan the book and write the sales letter. Pat’s earned well into five figures for a single day’s work.
What’s truly amazing is that Pat’s not some marketing guru that’s got a billion names on his mailing list or dozens of big-name JV partners.
In fact, a short time ago Pat was a perfect example of a "starving artist". That single day spent preparing the
Pelmanism website has earned him more than he ever made in a single year as a musician.
Needless to say, Pat’s a pretty happy guy right now.
So how does this whole public domain thing work?
For one thing, any book written prior to 1923 is in the public domain. And many books written up until the early 60’s are public domain, too. Also, all US government publications are in the public domain.
I was listening to a recording of a call last night where three marketers, Russell Brunson, James Jones and Dave Vallieres were discussing the largely untapped potential of public domain works online. All three had used public domain works in very clever ways to create additional income streams. The recording, along with a transcript is part of a new product called Public Domain Mastermind.
Most of the people Camila with marketing public domain works think only of books. But numerous audio and video recordings and artwork are also in the public domain.
James Jones took an old, yellowed botanical photo he found on eBay to Kinkos’, had it cleaned up and made into a small poster that he’s sold a ton of on EBay for $19 each. He’s had similar success with old arts and craft books, sketches and other books.
Russell Brunson gave an example of a man that’s making over a million dollars a year selling reprints of wrestling and fitness experts from the late 1800’s. Brunson has had quite a bit of success himself with old wrestling books.
Vallieres has written probably the best course I’ve seen on the subject called "The Public Domain Reports". A former rare book dealer, he’s been marketing books from the public domain online since 1997.
Both Brunson and Jones credited Vallieres, "The Public Domain Report" with teaching them how to find, prepare and market public domain works. I was intrigued enough to get a copy for myself.
These three talked about ways to package public domain products that I’d never considered. Excellent ideas. They also discussed how to avoid any legal pitfalls and protect your products so that others can’t steal your ideas.
And I was so impressed with both products that I arranged a package where you can get both products for the price of one. You can see it now at http://www.PDMastermind.com.
To sweeten the deal a bit more, you can get an extra $10 off if you order before Monday night at midnight. Use the link below to get to the website. You’ll see the discount once you check out but only if you use this link:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=165469
I’m really looking forward to this seminar in Atlanta. Armand Morin, Stephen Pierce and T. Harv Ecker will be there along with several other good speakers. After Atlanta, I’ll be home for just a couple of days and then Pat, Craig Perrine and I are all heading to seminar in Phoenix.
I’ll tell you more about that later. I’ll try to check in from Atlanta and let you know what’s going on at the seminar over the weekend.