Waiting Room Magazines - Which Ones to Choose? by Martin G Woodberry

Show me somebody who ‘never reads magazines’ and I’ll show you a fibber! Anytime you are in a doctor’s or dentist’s office you are sitting next to a pile of bright slick paper that you just can’t help glance at. Pretty soon one is open on your lap, and you are unaware of wasted minutes spent sitting in a cramped waiting room.

If you have a business that requires people to wait for service, odds are you need some sort of distraction in your waiting area to quell impatience and discontent. Magazines are a favorite, but only if they hold interest for the reader.

Choosing the magazine subscriptions for your business waiting room should be done with a sharp eye to what audience they will have. If you run a hip new tanning salon used primarily by female high school and college students, you will probably want to stock publications as Cosmopolitan or Seventeen.

A beauty parlor catering to a slightly older demographic might be better off with Glamour and Elle. A men’s barbershop could carry Spin or Golf Digest, a custom stereo installer Motor Trend or Popular Mechanic.
Some waiting rooms lean naturally towards one field or another.

A cardiologists office might stock publications focusing on health or fitness, while a pediatricians office would want a cross section of parenting and children’s magazines. Don’t go overboard, however - some people want nothing less than the soup de jour shoved in their face. Make sure you have a generic magazine or two handy for those who just want to escape. When in doubt, go for the top sellers that embrace the widest demographics.

People Magazine and Reader’s Digest are obvious picks, as are magazines focusing on entertainment, celebrity gossip, and the home and garden arena. People naturally like to read about the lifestyles of the rich and famous - that imaginary world where WE own the beach house in Malibu and the yacht off the coast of Greece is a pleasant place to kill an hour!

Once you have decided what demographic frequents your waiting room you can start picking and choosing your publications. Often you can get a discount if you bundle a few subscriptions together, so have a little fun and pick one or two that suit your family in the bargain.
You can always bring the read copies up to the office to beef up your available supply. A word about your magazine display - a stack of ratty coverless magazines crammed in a corner doesn’t seem that appealing.

Take a moment each morning to check over your stock and discard any hopelessly crumpled or torn specimens. Fan them neatly on a coffee table, or invest in an inexpensive magazine rack that will hold your collection without being overly crammed.

If you have too many, rotate them out on a regular basis. Magazines can make the difference between a reasonably content waiting room and a roiling pit of dissatisfaction and petulance. Fortunately, the magazine subscription solution to waiting room blues is fast, simple and inexpensive - you can build a decent selection in virtually no time, at relatively little cost to you.

About the Author

The author of this article has a general interest in all things technology, including PCs, hardware, software, Internet, programming, gaming, as well as gadgets and gizmos. Get more information regarding magazines.

The Ultimate Guide On How To Get Mp3 Audio Books Free

The Ultimate Guide On How To Get Mp3 Audio Books Free by Peter Craske

Introduction

The audio book industry is expected to reach an estimated two billion U.S. dollars a year very soon. This extraordinary growth in recent years can be explained by a combination of factors that have conspired to increase audio book demand at an exponential rate in recent years. Firstly, the increased availability of fast, cheap Internet connections has made downloading more popular in general. Secondly, the introduction of the Ipod and similar Mp3 digital players has resulted in consumers having an increased appetite for audio products that can be listened to on their players. However, if you don't have lots of cash to pay out for audio books, can you get mp3 audio books free?

The answer to this question is yes; you just need to know where to look. This article offers you Tips on how you can build up your audio book collection legally without resorting to using illegal file sharing services. These are not recommended least of all because many of the files you may download are incumbent with viruses that may damage your computer.

Tip 1 - Make Use Of Your Public Library

This is probably one of the best sources of free audio books there is. If you are lucky like me, you will find that your local library has a huge selection of music and audio material that you can borrow for weeks at a time. There is sometimes a small charge made for lending services like these, but believe me this is nothing compared to the cost of having to go out purchase a new audio book. In my experience the audio books that I want tend to be popular, therefore you may find that find that you will benefit from using your library's reservation system in order to obtain the titles you're after.

Tip 2 - Use The Internet

This may sound obvious but many people simply give up on the first page of a search engine or only try Google. In order to discover new and exciting audio book sites you will need to dig a little deeper. It is a known fact that keywords such as "free audio books" is very competitive therefore you are only likely to discover those sites with more resources at their disposal at the top of the search engines. By researching past page one of Google you will potentially turn up more interesting results.

Tip 3 - Get Advice From Forums

If Tip 2 fails to yield any decent free sites, then you can turn to one of the Audio book forums on the Internet for advice on where to find the best mp3 audio books free. Forums are where like minded people gather together and give the benefit of their experience to others in a series of messages on particular topics as long as they are within the remit of the forum. I have learnt a lot about audio books from simply reading posts on such forums without needing to participate at all.

Tip 4 - Don't Forget On-Line Auction Sites

Still on-line, auction sites are another good source of cheap audio books. Whilst not all free you can certainly do a lot worse than buying from an established Seller on one of these sites. If you are thinking of doing this please make sure that you check the Seller out first (i.e. make sure that they are a reliable trader, good indications are a high feedback score, good comments etc.). You also need to ensure that the format you receive the mp3 files in will be compatible with your player.

Tip 5 - Garage Sales, Car Boot Sales, etc.

I've picked up quite a few audio cd's at Car Boot and Garage Sales for next to nothing and converted them into mp3 files using free software downloaded from the Internet.

Conclusion

By now you should have some good ideas for building up your collection of mp3 audio books for free. I would start this weekend with a trip to my local library and then check out the local paper for a Garage Sale. Remember to dig a little deeper on-line into those search and engine results and have a go at participating in some audio book forums, its great fun! Happy listening.
About the Author

Peter Craske runs an informational website that provides audio book tips and advice, free audio book resources can be found at The Links Page.

For more general Audio Book Advice visit Audio Books Advisor.