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Yes, There Really is a Freebie Santa Claus
If you are a cynic when it comes to offers of free stuff, you are not alone. Everyone has had notions like “there is no such thing as a free lunch” and “if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is” drilled into their heads, and for good reason – these things often hold water. On the flip side, there ARE actually lots of places you can score some decent free stuff, if you know where to look and are willing to devote some time to hunting them down. The key to getting the best free stuff with the least amount of hassle is to stick with that healthy cynicism but to also dipping your toe in the freebie pool little by little.
But why would anyone give stuff away for free? It is certainly an obvious question, but if you stop to consider it for a moment, you can see that companies actually have a lot of motivation to give away free stuff. After all, if they give you something for free, you are bound to have a little soft spot for their company, and when you are ready to part with some cash, their product may near the top of your list. Also, by giving away free things, companies can convince people to try new products. You might not want to try a new kind of shampoo if you have to pay for it, but you’d certainly be willing to give a free sample a try. You may end up loving it and switching to that shampoo for good, turning you into a paying customer.
Another reason a company might give you free stuff is to complete market research. This is where getting free things can get a little complicated for some people because the products may not cost you money, but the offer may cost you a little time. A company might ask you to take a survey of your buying habits before they give you a free offer, or they may ask you to provide feedback on a regular basis as you try their product for free. Some people balk at the time commitment required here, but for other people, filling out some paperwork is a small price to pay for some free stuff.
Of course, to convert you into a customer or to communicate with you about market research, a company will have to contact you, which is complicated area number two for freebie lovers. You will almost always be forced to hand over your email address in order to cash in on a free offer, and that is a recipe for opening your inbox up to a barrage of spam (many companies sell your email address to offset the costs of their free promotions, which means the number of people soliciting you can go through the roof very quickly). If you want to avoid this downside of freebie hunting, set up a special email address specifically for your freebie deals. That way all of your spam goes to this one address and your regular email you use with family and friends remains free and clear.
One final note of caution about free stuff online: a lot of scammers have hit on the idea of using pretend freebie offers to solicit personal information about people or to convince people to send them money. Don’t send money, even for postage, to a company you don’t know and never, ever give out personal information online. No reputable company is going to ask for your social security number or bank account details for a freebie offer, so don’t hand them out to anyone. When in doubt, skip it and move to the next freebie.
The Definition of Writing Styles Depends on Who is Defining Them (writing styles) While researching this topic, you may have found many different answers to what are the different types of writing styles. No two answers were the same. They range anywhere from your personal way of writing that is your writing style to formal and informal. Many people feel the best answer to what writing styles are the those will be outlined below in this article. You can decide for yourself if this definition suits your. The term creative writing covers a range of writing areas. Poetry, fiction books, short stories, and screenplays are considered creative writings. Any writing in which is not strictly non-fiction would be classified as such. Journalism and news reporting are forms of Expository writing. The purpose is to focus on one topic and inform the reader by provided the facts. These writings can be seen in the forms of travel brochures, professional journal, business reports, and new paper articles. Descriptive writing is what gives you the mental pictures of what we have read. It uses a lot of adjective and adverbs to describe things. When descriptive writing is very good you can close your eyes and know exactly what the author is saying. The kind that makes you taste what the characters and see what they are seeing. Analytical Writing is a writing that focuses on a topic and then verifies the purpose of it. It is often taught school age children through out the years because it is something they will use in their life. Book reports, conference papers, thesis, essays, and dissertations are all academic writing. It is created using a third person point of view and deductive reasoning supported by facts. Its purpose is to show a clear understanding of a subject by presenting information. Technical Writing is used in owner manuals, how to guides, magazine articles, and design specs just to name a few. Its purpose is to take complicated technical information and turn it into something the intended audience can understand. Technical writing usually deals with electronics of all sorts, chemistry, robotics, and finance. Any kind of writing that has to do with business matters is considered business writing. It is concise and to the point. Your intended audience wants to know what happen and why, but with minimal detail in between. An active voice is necessary in business writing. It keeps people focused and shows that you are in control of situations. Correspondence is the writing of memos, letters, or emails between people. It is a message that is sent between two people or groups of people. To provide facts and statistic and having the ability to influence your readers with your words is persuasive writing. This is used for products ads, political campaigns, or any kind of promotion. It is not necessary to prove why something is else is wrong or bad you just need to prove why your promoting is better. Narrative writing is use to tell a story or list of events that have already happen, might have happened, or could happen in the future. These writings may include novels, poetry, short stories, or a number of other things. A lot of times many of these styles are meshed together in our writing. Business writing and technical writings are often one in the same as are academic writing and analytical writing. With the overlapping of the styles it hard to define one writing style from another, you can guess it is all a matter of the point of view you are looking at it from and your opinion. How to copyright music How to Copyright Music for the Beginner For those wondering how to copyright music the answer can be both long and short. The first thing to remember is that most people are confused about exactly what it means to actually copyright music. Music is actually copyrighted as soon as it is presented in a fixed form. It doesn't really matter whether that fixed form is as written sheet music or as a recording. Most people are looking for solid legal protection and while a copyright is good to have, it is essentially worthless unless you've actually gone to the effort of also registering your copyright. Rather than asking 'how to copyright music', perhaps the better question would be 'what do I do now that I've copyrighted my music?' It doesn't really matter what you call it unless you're moving around in legal or industry circles I suppose, but I've always felt that it's a good idea to have a clue about the process in which you are embarking. Now that we've answered how to copyright music, it's time to move on to the real issue, which is registering your copyright. Music is registered through the U. S. Copyright Office. You will need to fill out an application, pay a fee, and provide a copy of your music. As far as government dealings go, this is one of the least painful. Even the fee is marginal when you consider your 'hopeful' future profits and royalties. All that aside, there is something that is massively satisfying about knowing how to copyright music and having your first piece of music registered. Music is an art form and the ability to write music is nothing insignificant. It is a real talent that is actually quite rare. Many popular musicians today use music that has been written by others either in addition to or rather than music that they have written themselves. Even if you aren't a talented performer, it doesn't mean that your music will never be seen or heard or that you should not bother learning how to copyright music. You just might find that you are more in demand for your particular talents than you would have ever dreamed possible. The big thing to remember though is not to sit around wondering how to copyright music but to get out there and go about the process of creating and making more wonderful music to share with the world. It takes all kinds of music to keep this world turning and there is someone out there that is waiting to hear the music that you create. The process of how to copyright music is completely free. The process of registering your copyright is worth every penny you will spend. It is important to protect your music now more than ever with piracy and widespread downloading providing significant reductions in profits for everyone involved. The music industry is also a very fickle industry and you need to maximize your profit potential and usefulness. Once you understand how to copyright music, you need to make sure every piece of music you have has been copyrighted, then you need to go through your music and systematically register each and every piece as well. Even if you must do one piece at a time until you manage to register the copyright on them all, it is much better to be safe than sorry should you ever go to trial in a copyright infringement case. Also remember to pay it forward and support up and coming musicians by sharing the information of how to copyright music and how to register copyrights as well. |