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The Ins and Outs of Free Writing Contests (free writing contests) Free writing contests are available by the thousands. They are virtually a dime a dozen on the Internet. No matter what your niche is in the writing community there is a free writing contests out there for you. How do you know which ones to enter and which ones are legitimate? That’s simple. You do what you do best-- research. While providing the story for the free writing contest will probably be the easy part, researching the thousands of available contests will be a daunting task. If this is un-chartered water for you, you have the start at the beginning. Finding what free writing contests are available. Grab a notebook or start a word document and list the contests that are available. Beside each contest name you will want to put what kind of writing they are looking for and when it needs to be done by. By doing this first you will be able to eliminate any that do not coincide with your writing niche or with your schedule. Now the free writing contest research begins. Finding out if a contest is worthwhile and legitimate is comparable to running a background check on a person. First check the contest website. Do they have all contact information available? Do they tell you what company is hosting the contest? If they are not, you will have likely found warning number one that it is a scam. So scratch those off your list or at least move them to the bottom until you can find out more information on them. Start asking around to colleagues and writers groups. Search the writing forums and the Internet scam sites. The Better Business Bureau is also a good place to look. Once you narrowed the free writing contests down to the legitimate ones, read the contest rules and regulations. Some contests require you signing over all rights to a story even if you don’t win. Are you willing to do this? Giving up rights to you writing is a lot easier to do when you are getting something in return. After you enter there is no going back, so make sure this is what you want to do. The final thing you need to look for is if the contest is just a cover up to get you to buy services or products. This does not necessarily mean they are a scam or don’t actually award winners. It simply means that they will try to entice you to use their critiquing services or offer you a book at a reduced fee that your work will be published in. Being published sounds like a great deal but is it a book that carries prestige that people are going to see? Many authors think that writing contests will launch their career into a successful endeavor. This is not the case, especially for free writing contests. Even winning the grand prize of a smaller known contest is not going to affect your literary journey. Even though they may not springboard your career, there are good reasons to join writing contests. You will get unbiased opinions and valuable feedback from the judges. If you make it into the higher rounds, editors could also see your writing. Ultimately whether you enter a free writing contest the choice is yours. Just ask you self if the time spent writing and researching the piece you choose to enter is worth writing for free in most cases. The critique and feedback may be the most worthwhile thing you receive from the contest. But then again the judges opinions are a dime a dozen just like the contests.

Events of copyright infringement The Events of Copyright Infringement: Innocent People Infringing Accidentally Copyright infringement is in the news a lot lately – it’s hard to miss stories about kids being carted off to jail or seriously fined for downloading music or movies off the internet. I’ve even heard about a lady was fined for tens of thousands of dollars because of the events of copyright infringement – her grandson downloading music, and she couldn’t prove it wasn’t her. The events of copyright infringement are complicated – and not easy to define. Surfing the internet has its advantages and disadvantages, that’s for sure. We’re able to find useful information quickly, but how close are we pertaining to copyright laws? Do we even know what is and is not acceptable? A couple of the more pertinent questions have been asked below: If you hear a great new band, and then download a song from MySpace, is that legal or not? The events of copyright infringement are not only limited by Kazaa, Morpheus, or some other file sharing peer to peer (P2P) service. If you download a song - no matter if you’re on a website or a MySpace page - and it isn’t coming from the artist themselves, you may want to think about downloading it. Chances are, if it’s not coming from them, you can’t have it – unless it is under a Creative Commons License. Creative Commons gives the exact ways in which you can use the license – and many times those are completely free and legal to download – so make sure you check if it’s under a CC License. If I’m writing a paper, or article, and I want to quote another website, can I? First of all, did you know the minute you write or create something, you hold the copyright to it? ESPECIALLY if you’re writing it online – it’s very easy to track things in the internet page. So, if you’re writing a blog, all the things you’ve written (no matter good or bad) are there permanently, thanks to archive.org, and you can review last versions of your web pages. Sometimes, people we can use – rather heavily – someone else’s work in our own, and think we’re small and anonymous. That no one will notice by the time you get it down – you’re just ‘borrowing’ it. Before you begin quoting anyone’s website – from CNN to your local neighborhood hardware store – you need to ask the person who holds the copyright if you can. Usually, they’ll let you if you attribute to them. Depending who you talk to, you’ll either have to pay royalties or license rights to republish. If you don’t ask before you quote, you’re beginning the events of copyright infringement and you are opening yourself up for a lawsuit. As you can see, the events of copyright infringement can begin at any time, beginning with normal ‘everyday’ activities. It’s just as easy to infringe on as it is to be infringed upon. Make sure you check your copyright using CopyScape or some other service, and you can check your work against other works on the internet, and make sure that you’re not infringing someone or vice versa. In this day it’s easy to protect yourself from getting infringed upon, and the events of copyright infringement are easy to track. It’s easy for innocent people to get caught in copyright infringement, like children they didn’t know what they could and couldn’t do. Make sure, in all you do, that you’re striving to do the best you can, and you’ll be certain not to fall victim to your own infringing demons.

Helpful Hints for Finding Free Stuff Online The World Wide Web is awash in wonderful freebies. The problem is finding them, and sorting out the real freebies from those that will cost you in the long run. Fortunately for those of us that resist the notion of not finding cool freebies, there are many tips that can help you filter out the bad results as quickly as possible. Why is it So Hard to Find True Freebies on the World Wide Web? Why is it so hard to find true freebies on the Web, and what can you do to improve your search results? Finding freebies is harder than ever. First, try searching for freebies by typing in the word 'free' into any search engine, and chances are that you will receive a lot of filler pages that do not contain any useful information, much less any true freebies. Many websites use the word 'free' in order to draw in the web traffic, but will not actually offer you any freebies. Another problem with web freebies is that they are often not as free as you would like. In many cases, you will not be allowed to access your freebies of choice until you to watch advertisements or put up with obtrusive pop-up and banner ads. Sometimes you may also be forced to subscribe to an email newsletter that results in your inbox becoming flooded with unwanted messages. Here are some tips that can help you find the real freebies. Check Out Forums Known for Their Freebies There are many well-established online forums where you can find the latest freebies. One of these websites is SlickDeals, which has established itself as a place to find authentic freebies. Check out the freebie forum to find free samples from a wide range of products and services. You will be amazed by how many free things you can find by checking these forums regularly. Share and exchange your own favorite freebies with other forum contributors and users. Check Out the Hot Deals and Coupons to Be Found Online Another favorite site for web freebie-hunters is Hot Coupon World. This site is home to a very active forum that provides users with freebie offers in a variety of different areas and topics. Check out the many different folders to find hot coupons and freebie offers. Share and read the member secrets on how to get the best free stuff. There is even a fun Adopt a Newbie program that allows you to do just that—bring more freebie hunters into the fold. The more freebie hunters, the more chances of someone finding something worth holding on to. Does Your Free Cup Runneth Over? If you want to discover the best in online freebies, A Full Cup is not a bad place to start looking. This is yet another very popular freebie website that provides its members with the greatest in freebie deals and offers. This is a great place to peruse for the latest and the greatest in new freebie offers. The Message Board Hot Spot for Web Freebies Another freebie hot spot on the web is known as Teri's Message Board. This well-regarded web forum is family-oriented. If it is your first visit to this vibrant website, check out the Hot Deals, Rebates and Samples folders. Chances are, you will find more than one great freebie deal on this very active website. A Great Place to Gather for Long-Standing Freebies Looking for a well-established freebie website that offers the best in freebies in a well-organized manner? If so, check out the FreeSite.com. This website have been around for many years and it shows: it is well organized, with a large selection of web freebies.