I publish "The Mis-Education of the Negro" by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in Audio Book format -
www.themiseducationofthenegro.com and I am currently converting "The Stolen Legacy" by George GM James, to Audio format as well. I have "The Miseducation..." available on iTunes and audible.com
as well.
Now with that said, I'm amazed at how many people have asked me "Do you have permission to do that..." Don't get me wrong, I think its good that we kinda Police each other and help keep each other honest. But, when I give the answer, "Yes, it's in Public Domain" i get this blank look and then I hear something like, "So he (the author) gave you permission to do that?" So to explain what public domain is, remove suspicions and hopefully show some how they can benefit as well from it, I write the following
Public Domain is the status of a literary work or an invention whose copyright or patent has expired or that never had such protection. A list of conditions for Public Domain can be found here -
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_do... After you find that a literary work or sound recording is in Public Domain you can then republish it under your own publishing company. Be careful not to use someones elses written Introduction or voice of someone that has republished the work as well. You can only republish the part that was created by the author.
For example, someone else could go and make an audio book version of the Mis-education of the Negro right now and I couldn't do a thing about it. But, if they try to use either my voice recording or my introduction, then that would be a Copyright violation and I could file suit against you. Use your own voice and create your own intro and you're good-to-go.
So there you have it, Public Domain in a Nutshell. As a last word, more Black books should be converted in to audio books, especially like the books I have at astewartpublishing.com. They don't have to be Public Domain Works. Get the permission of these authors that are still living and share the profits with them of the audio book you convert. It's time for a serious Black Audio Book movement.
Anthony Stewart
Publisher
www.theanthonyreport.com www.themiseducationofthengro.com www.photoshopping4dollars.com
Posted By: Anthony Stewart
Friday, August 1st 2008 at 1:28PM
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