[kurochka]

[I don't know if there is a better place to post this post]

Here is the deal. I enjoy reading books, including dictionaries. For several years now, I have been digitizing (from scanning to OCR, to proofreading, layout, format conversions) old out-of-copyright books and dictionaries. My most recent is English Synonyms and Antonyms by James C. Fernald (1914). Amazing scholarship, captivating reading!

Is there a way to turn this hobby of mine (quality digitization of books, not the reading) into "gainful employment"?

My concern is that I am dealing with public domain books. You cannot (and should not) claim copyright in them. I do not believe that the contractual restrictions (i.e., before you read you agree to something similar that copyright provides) can stand up to legal scrutiny. Reproductions of public domain works in any shape or form are typically public domain as well. In addition, I think it is just plain wrong to try to bypass the public "domainness" with such shenanigans.

One way is to make compilations of public domain works (the selection, compilation, revisions themselves would be under the copyright). Another, I could start with public domain books as the source and then work on my own work, revising, updating, etc. While the proper attribution to the source will be made, the new work will be under the new copyright.
In this case, the finished product would not be the original work of the first author, and I do not know how interesting it would be to the audience. Third, I could start some non-profit and raise funds for such a good cause (yeah, in this economy ...). I do not want to become rich, I just need a salary to support my family.

Then, there is competition from the free digitization efforts on the Internet. I am not too happy with the quality of scans coming out of Google, Microsoft, etc. I think they do a disservice to everybody by churning out such poor scans. However, they are big, free and people are typically tolerant of low-quality stuff when it is free. Unlike the above scan-mills, I have respect for distributed OCR-proofreading groups. I read books done by them all the time.

I truly enjoy what I am doing and would prefer to let other people enjoy the results but then how do I get the "gainful employment" part? I have come to the point where I would like to undertake ambitious projects of digitizing multivolume dictionaries or other large works. Then I could convert them to TEI or other XML-based formats or just have them in a book form.

I am currently scanning this huge heavy dictionary that I fear would break the glass of my scanner or pull a muscle in my arm. A quality work on such huge projects would take years.