Standard Ebooks only works on books that have entered the U.S. public domain due to copyright expiration. Generally this means a book must have been published in or earlier, though there are exceptions for works from later periods that didn’t follow copyright formalities. For more information on determining the copyright status of a work in the U.S., see Project Gutenberg’s Copyright How-To.
+Note that a book that is in the U.S. public domain may not be in the public domain of other countries, and vice versa.
Most long fiction, including plays.
Most short fiction and poetry, when presented in collections or omnibuses. We consider short fiction to be works less than 40,000 words in length, which typically includes novellas.
+Most short fiction and poetry, when presented in collections or omnibuses. We consider short fiction to be works less than 40,000 words in length, a length that typically includes novellas. Some independent short works may be produced individually on a case-by-case basis.
Some “timeless” non-fiction, including philosophy and notable autobiography.
+Some “timeless” non-fiction, including philosophy, travelogue, classics from antiquity, and notable autobiography.
“The complete works”-type ebooks, in which an author who wrote in various styles (like poetry, short stories, and novels) has their entire corpus compiled into one ebook. However we are interested in complete collections of single types of writing. For example, Anton Chekhov wrote many plays, short stories, novels, and novellas. We wouldn’t accept “The Complete Works of Anton Chekhov,” but we would accept Anton Chekhov’s Complete Short Fiction, or individual novels or plays he wrote.
Ebooks in translation for which we already have a translation. We aim to host one “best” version of books; for example, we already have a modern translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, so we won’t be accepting a different translation.
+Ebooks in translation for which we already have a translation. We aim to host one “best” version of books; for example, we already have a translation of The Divine Comedy, so we won’t be accepting a different translation.
Non-English-language books. Translations to English are, of course, OK.
Translations into English which are severely abridged, Bowdlerized, wildly archaic or near-unreadable to modern readers, or which scholars agree are poor translations.
+Translations into English which are severely abridged, Bowdlerized, wildly archaic or near-unreadable to modern readers, or which scholars agree are poor translations. For example, the only public domain translations of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas are ones widely considered to be slapdash, thus we will not accept them.