Superman Should be in the Public Domain - And Was

This video shows some of the complications you can face when dealing with works that are in the public domain - well - should be.

It used to be straight forward. Not anymore.

I told you Congress passed a law changing when works actually enter the public domain. If the works are before 1923 you have no issues.

Before 1964? Possibly and possibly not.

Again, you have an obligation to be certain any work you decide to use or change is legally in the public domain and, if it is, dive in.

But please do not ask me if a product is in the public domain because I have plenty of research to do finding out the same thing.

But come on. Once you find what you want and you know it is public domain material, you have everything laid out in front of you and instead of starting a book, for instance, from scratch, you have the story that you can now change and make your own.

It's not quite that simple unless you don't mind putting out junk, but if you treat it the way you should, you can come up with a pretty good book.

Reading a number of Poe's works took time. But I found stories I enjoyed and retold a few so the modern reader could read and enjoy them. Simply put, I used modern language and tried to eliminate all the boring parts.

Next I found three stories that I felt had a very similar theme and would work as a single book. I'm happy with the way that turned out and I plan to continue doing more of the same.

Later I'll tell you a really cool idea that will help you get more ideas for writing.

Now, here's the video about Superman and why it was and then wasn't in the public domain.