Starting a Business using Public Domain Products Based on History
There are many potential business opportunities that you can launch with public domain
works. History is one of the popular categories where the public domain is very strong,
where you can find your own niche within and build a thriving money-making business out
of it.
The core process here is to brainstorm – once you understand what the public domain is
about and get a clear idea of the sort of information available in the public domain, you can
then sit down and brainstorm the different sort of niches suitable for public-domain driven
businesses.
Here, instead of finding a business idea first and then finding the right public domain
resources, we will look at finding public domain works and creating businesses out of
them. But, you’ll need to make sure that the right market exists for any of these topics
before you start running with the idea!
History is one such category where public domain materials are readily available.
History has always held a deep-seated interest for many people. Whether the interest is
topical (a la Da Vinci Code), or long-lasting, there is a lot of money to be made through the
public domain. The key here is to find the right target – you can either have informational
websites (the most common and easiest business model to set up) and earn money
through AdSense (this will cost you very little to set up, and earn you recurring income for
a long time to come) or create an informational product based on any particular issue.
If you’re creating info-products for history-based niches, ensure that there is a lasting
demand for your product. Current events and trends are a great barometer of what history
the public is interested in. While there are always mainstay items like famous authors and
artists, topical history niches such as the Napoleonic Wars may not generate that much
interest (although you can possibly move laterally to selling war memorablia, and use
public domain information as content to attract visitors through search engine).