Q: Can I modify and resell books from a wholesale retailer like Faire Marketplace?

A: This is a great question! The fundamental nature of copyright is that you may not copy things that you do not own the rights to. Here, you look to be just decorating the books - like framing a painting, rather than creating prints from your painting if I understand correctly. So long as your purchase a copy of each book you sell, you should be in the clear.

No place that you would purchase books from would be better than any other. Copyright would be universally enforced regardless of which channel you purchase books for your endeavors from. Some outlets may specifically address that, but no outlet would provide an escape from that. Retail outlets only assume you do not intend to copy the book. The copyright notice in the first few pages is what is relevant.

As an aside, stripped books - books that have the front cover torn from them by booksellers - may not be sold, regardless of how they are dressed up. These books are deliberately damaged because they are not sold locally and it is too expensive to ship them back to the publisher. This is an unfortunate process, but it is worthwhile to keep in mind that nobody who worked to produce the book gets paid for it.

A: When you purchase a book outright, you generally have the right to resell it under the "first sale doctrine," which allows buyers to resell copyrighted works they lawfully own. This means that decorating the covers or spray-painting the edges is not the same as copying or altering the content, so it doesn’t usually count as copyright infringement. However, you do need to be careful not to market your customized books in a way that suggests the publisher or author endorsed or created the modified version.

If you buy through a wholesale platform like Faire, the main concern is whether their terms of service or the publisher’s own agreements place limits on resale after modification. Some wholesalers may restrict how products are altered and resold, so you’ll need to carefully review the contract you agree to when buying. Even if you’re not infringing on copyright law, you could still run into issues if the marketplace’s rules prohibit selling modified goods purchased through their channel.

Because you specifically mentioned Macmillan, large publishers sometimes have strict distribution policies. To stay safe, you might consider buying retail copies if the wholesaler’s agreement forbids modifications, or work directly with a distributor that doesn’t restrict resale after alteration. The key is making sure your creative changes don’t mislead buyers about the origin of the product while respecting the sales terms of the marketplace you buy from.