Hi, Sara! Thanks for the good question!

The Public Domain books I record aren’t on Gutenberg, and a digital copy may not be available anywhere.

Sometimes, a book is available in Kindle format. I may use a Kindle book for a pre-read to see if I want to create an audiobook from it. I don’t like to record from a Kindle edition as it doesn’t allow me any flexibility to mark the text.

The book I’m about to produce, narrate, and publish doesn’t become PD until 1 January. I plan to release the audiobook the day the text becomes Public Domain.

I have 2 more books in my immediate queue with mid-century copyright dates. These titles might seem like they are still under copyright, but my research shows they are already in the Public Domain because the copyright owner didn’t renew the copyright within its first 28 years or failed some other aspect of the copyright rules.

In fact, about 74% of the millions of books published in the mid-1900s have fallen into the Public Domain for the same reason! Once we excavate this buried treasure, we probably will need to create the PDF for our recording script.

Karen

Hi, Billie Jo! I love knowing that you’ve also experienced these sorts of occurrences!

Like you, I’ve wondered about my perceived setbacks and delays. Whenever I’m stuck in traffic or have a delayed flight, I’ve decided the Universe has put the delay in my path to keep me from being in a wreck or a crash!

Thanks for your comment!

Karen

I’m glad I read this this morning!

First, keep in mind that you only need to pair with an edition on Amazon — your own or that from another rights holder — if you are using ACX or a distributor that goes through ACX to publish to Amazon and Audible. You don’t need an Amazon edition if you are using a different distributor.

Finding a rights holder willing to give you permission to connect to their Amazon book or creating your own Amazon edition can be a time-consuming process! For this reason, I wrote in step #2 of my guide Planning Your Trip to Public Domain World:

If you can’t distribute the finished audiobook, there’s no point in spending the time and money to create it.

After you contacted the Amazon rights holder, did you allow them enough time to answer you? When I write to someone requesting their help, I allow at least 2 weeks before I follow up with them or choose another course of action.

If you don’t hear back from the RH after a couple of weeks, you could send a second message or see if the book has other editions. Remember, you can pair with ANY edition on Amazon — Kindle, hardback, or paperback.

This answer discusses viewing the other editions and searching for contact info for the rights holders.

You may decide to choose a different distributor that doesn’t require an Amazon edition. NarratorsRoadmap.com members can view my Audiobook Distributors Comparison Chart to aid in your distributor decisions.

Once you choose one or more distributors, you will record your audiobook and upload your final mastered files to the distributor site(s) according to their instructions.

I wrote to a Kindle rights holder to ask if I could pair my audiobook with their edition. They didn’t answer. What should I do? How can I publish my audiobook?

Yes, you can use it for your creative projects.

The HathiTrust cover sheet on the downloaded PDF will state they have determined the text to be PD.

The University of Michigan has a FAQ about its partnership with Google to scan the books in its library. It specifically states that Google does not own the copyright to the digitized book.

Google’s About the Library Project page states:

If a book from the Library Project is determined to be in the public domain, Google will make it fully available to the public and you’ll be able to read the book from start to finish.

The key sentence in Google’s disclaimer on the HathiTrust cover page is:

Google requests that these images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.

My translation: If you want to reprint the text and images in a way that would make money for you, such as publishing and selling a printed book, you’d need to create your own document rather than re-publishing the Google pages. Using the text as your narration script is perfectly fine.

I want to download a book from HathiTrust. The listing says “Public Domain” and also “Google Digitized.” Does this mean I can use it?

Hi, Andrea! You know I always love to talk about Evernote!

I haven’t used Granola Notes or other note-taking software. I’ve been entrenched with Evernote since 2011, and it supports so much of my personal and professional lives. It only gets more powerful!

Evernote’s AI tools can give you a transcription and summary of meetings you record within Evernote, as well as audio files that you attach to a note.

It also can transcribe text from photos and handwriting! I’m using it to transcribe my journals.

It’s funny you mentioned a coaching workshop! I’m an Associate Professor at the upcoming Heller and Pratt Institute for Knowing Stuff on 11 November. Among other topics, I plan to talk about using certain AI tools — including Evernote! — in your business. I hope you can join us!

Thanks for the good question!

Karen

Hi, Sarah! Thanks for the note.

I’ve written more articles you might enjoy about mindset and the power of our words, including:

Change Starts With Your Thoughts and Words

Stop Complaining About Noise

Think/Write/Speak what you WANT into BEING!

Best wishes for your success!

Karen