Romancing the Blog | Romance Authors and Readers Who Blog

I read the coolest article in the RWR this past month about the cost and profit that a publisher makes on different trim sizes (hard cover, trade, mass market) and it got me thinking about how an agent makes money (or doesn’t – as the case may be). And I decided to try and put together some of my own numbers and see if it makes sense to be a literary agent.

For the purpose of this …erm, study… we will name our agent Ms. Goodread (haha, I crack me up) and the agency GoodReads Literary Agency. Now, Goodread has just started a new literary agency and on top of the normal business expenses of starting a new agency (i.e. : business permits; PO box – because she has decided to work from home for the time being; cards; webspace; etc) she has to have a “product” to sell and starts to take on queries. After posting to several websites she finds herself flooded with potential clients and begins to wade through the slush pile looking for “the next big thing.”

In her old job she made $15/hr (not bad, but a pain to do the math quickly – so lets make it $10). Having received one hundred queries, she requests ten, and requests three fulls in order to sign one new client – she can read 40 queries in an hour (before her brain blows up) and the rest obviously takes longer. Let’s say she has spent approximately 15 hours in order to find the one client she is going to sign (that’s $150).

Then we start doing revisions with the client – a freelance editor will cost anywhere from .015 cents a word to .03 cents a word – but let’s estimate that a full manuscript will cost about $2,000. to edit from start to finish (combined total - $2,150.00).

Next, let’s assume the agent knows exactly where to send the manuscript and calls ten different editors to pitch it to (time? 4 hours or $40) and three say send it via print and the rest are emailed over. To print and mail the manuscript is about $20/per – that’s $60 (combined total $2,250.00).

Now, Ms. Goodread got interest back from the editors quite quickly – all but three passed quite fast but two were interested and one is _still¬_ reading. Within another week and a half (and this is moving quite quickly – but then again, this is a short article…) the book sells for $10,000.00 – not bad for a new author. Ms. Goodread calculates her commission… $1,500.00 (combined balance left…. anyone, anyone?)

But Ms. Goodread loves this project, believes in it – believes it has a long, looooong shelf life and is looking forward to earning back her money on royalty checks and future deals with the author.

…But it makes me wonder why it’s so hard for agents (ok, just myself) to explain to authors that while I really liked their book – I’m not sure that I “love” it enough to take it on. Do I have a minimum of $2000 to put into this book (and these are VERY conservative numbers), knowing that it may never ever sell? Do I love it? Must I be a part of its publishing life? Will I cry if another agent gets it? (If I can answer yes to ALL of these – then I offer representation. Erm, Ms. Goodread offers representation.

This week, I turned in the outline for the sequel to my first published novel. Before this book, I’d never written anything that might prompt a sequel or even a connected follow-up. Many of my writer friends would naturally gravitate towards series, either planned or serendipitous, but my muse sidestepped them. My buddies would be awash in story arcs involving a family of seventeen hunky firemen/SEAL/Greek tycoon brothers. I’d rarely have an unmarried best friend who could “star in her own book.” But I’d contracted a series, which meant I was going to write a sequel.

As soon as I figured out how.

Utilizing all my leftover scholarly impulses, I decided to take the analytical approach. After all, people tend to have a very strong love-hate relationship with sequels. I want to make sure I stayed on the “love” side of the equation. In the process, I discovered more than how to write one. I learned the secret to winning my own sequel heart.

First I made a list of sequels that I liked as much or even better than the originals: The Empire Strikes Back, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Anne of Avonlea, Prince Caspian, A Girl of the Limberlost, Ghostbusters II, Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness, Hearts Aflame, Speaker For the Dead, and The Odyssey. Then I considered the sequels that I abhorred or considered an abomination of the original: The Matrix Reloaded, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, The Last Battle, Children of the Mind, any Rocky with a number after the name, the subsequent Dunes. I began to catalogue what worked and didn’t about the various sequels, so that I could figure out what pitfalls to avoid.

For instance, judging from my dislike of both the Matrix and the Dune sequels, I realized that it would never do to make a character omnipotent at the end of book one. Because, I thought, if your protagonist is a god, there’s nowhere to go but down. However, it was unlikely my co-ed protagonist would find herself beatified, let alone deified. I was safe there.

Since my sequel would have the same primary characters as the original, I threw out examples where the sequel dealt with subsequent generations. This, unfortunately, got rid of most of the romances. Because romances are a courtship novel for a particular couple, it’s unlikely that the follow-up would deal with the same couple. More likely, they’d deal with the couple’s children (as in Hearts Aflame), other relatives, friends, coworkers, etc. The romances that starred the same couples (the Bridget Jones sequel, for instance) tended to introduce contrived reasons for the couple to split up, which, at least in my mind, undermined the “happily ever after” that seemed so genuine in book one. Call me crazy, but when the first book says they live happily ever after, I want to believe it. (cf. this RTB classic, “Tell Me No Sequels.)

As my database grew with sequel and series Do’s and Don’ts, I began to realize that my opinion of a sequel had a lot to do with how it made me revaluate the first book. I liked sequels that showcased natural character progression, expanded worldbuilding that didn’t contradict the first, and dedication to the characters, relationships and expectations that I liked in book one.

I hated ones that were flat out retreads of the original, a sort of “nudge nudge, remember this?” catalog of inside-jokes for the readers who’d been following along. On the other end of the spectrum, I also hated sequels that betrayed everything that the first had led me to believe. A good sequel, I realized, needed to be the same, but different. It needed to make me feel the way I did when I read the first one, but be a different story entirely. Pretty tall order, but that’s the price for keeping the reader’s interest. The first book belongs to the writer. Subsequent books belong to the writer and the readers. They have as much invested in the world as the writer does.

What about you? Which sequels do you love and why, and which do you hate, and why? I bet we can find your pattern, too.

by Mari Cody

We all know of the fallacy that writing Romance is easy. I would dare say that there are many in the field that found ourselves thinking it in the past.

It seems to me that the belief stems from the impression that Romance writers only have to have one plot and somehow one plot is easier than having to juggle a bunch of sub-plots. I know that it is wrong and a small part of me always has, but the misinformation was there in my mind.

The learning started when a few friends had a bit of drama in their lives. The events that occurred struck me as good for a story. I have been working at publication in the Fantasy field and have studied to that end. Before I ever thought of writing Romance, I was reading this blog (good writing advice doesn’t depend on genre). Now I found myself with a story that, after some tweaking, spicing and separation from real events, would be best suited to Romance. It was
an idea that I felt I had to write.

I knew I had to relearn several things. I am not really sure where I got the impression that this would be easy, but I think it came from the above mentioned fallacy. I am sure that it is not the only generic misinformation in my head, but I am quite open to being wrong.

The path to writing Romance started simply enough. It seemed to me that my first step would be in hunting down publishers, checking out the imprints and reading the guidelines for each. I knew there was more than one type of Romance and that having a ‘target audience’ would help with shaping the story beyond an idea. I had not realize there were so quite many.

I started with one publisher and their list of imprints. From that one source I found 17
possibilities (having knocked out Historical and such as not being appropriate to the story). I had thought that there would be a simple grouping of Historical, Modern, Classic and Erotica. I could feel the water rising around me.

I scratched out the BIG imprints, the ones that don’t even list guidelines because if you have to ask then you are barking up the wrong tree. There were still too many on my list, but I read the guidelines on them all.

I realized that I needed to better define my story before I could move much further. That’s when I came across my second hurdle.

My story has four main characters, or two main and two major secondaries. Each one is integral to the overall story, but it seems just having this many shrinks the list quite a bit. Add to that the issue of most the guidelines asking for a clear, sympathetic heroine. A cast of four does not lend itself to such simplicity.

I had another problem now. My Romance story idea was turning out to be quite wrong.

I mentioned writing in passing to a coworker and found that she used to write Romance, though she never reached out for publication. I had found no writing group in my area for SF/F, but it turns out there is a long running group here for Romance. The world of Romance was opening before me and I was learning it was relatively widespread and stable. Members may not all get along all the time, but they are always out there and ready to help a newcomer.

In the end, the decision was made to split the story up. Two of the four characters are female and, although their story is shared, they have a vast difference in their point of view. Writing the two stories will both be practice and experience. Pending the results, the whole story may be put back together and rewritten as a SuperRomance.

Now I have three novels two write, instead of one. I have a support group and lots of possibilities. I stumbled into the field and have learned a lot so far, but there is always more to learn.

*For information on how you can submit to Open Blog Night, click here.

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist. – Isaac Asimov

Quotes like that tend to inspire and energize. But, if you’re like me, there are times you just want to throttle the author for their optimism. Sometimes, you don’t want to hear “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Because sometimes, when life gives you lemons, you’re out of sugar.

But wait! That’s not very uplifting and inspirational! True, but the thing is, we all experience hardship, and each one of us handles difficulty differently. We aren’t all “glass half full” people, but even those who are (like me,) must at some point face situations that make us wonder why our glass is suddenly empty.

I am like most writers – I started writing as a child. At first, I wrote for myself. Then for friends. Then, eventually, for publication. I experienced highs and lows – rejections, contest wins, harsh criticism, the occasional non-fiction sale. But the fiction sale eluded me for years. I grew frustrated, heartbroken, and even, sometimes, bitter.

But finally, I got an editorial nibble with a manuscript submitted to Mills and Boon, where the editors liked it enough to request revisions. Then came another round of revisions. And line edits! This was IT! I just knew it. I worked my butt off to make that book perfect, and I sent it back to M&B in July of 2005.

In August of that same year, my life was turned upside-down by hurricane Katrina. I lost my house, most of my possessions, and several manuscripts that I hadn’t downloaded before evacuation. It was a devastating blow and the beginning of a nightmare that, to this day, has not ended.

To make matters worse, one week after the hurricane, while ripping out the walls of my soggy, moldy house, I found out that my revised story had been rejected. Had that rejection come at ANY other time in my life, it would have killed me. As it was, I felt nothing. In comparison to what I and hundreds of thousands of others were going through, a rejection was about as upsetting as a mosquito bite.

Homeless and frightened for the future, my son and I moved 3,000 miles away from my husband (who had to stay behind for his Coast Guard job) to live with my parents. Every day brought new nightmares from FEMA, the insurance companies, the Coast Guard. I battled depression, hopelessness, and helplessness when I watched how my son had been affected by our turn of luck.

And to top it all, I’d lost the will to write. The rejection didn’t hurt, but it did shatter my confidence.

Just as I was about to give up, I received a package from an author I admire and respect, an author whose obstacles gave her a unique perspective on writing through hardships. She inspired me, brought me back to a place where finally my critique partners could get through to me – my critique partners who had also known their share of hardships, and yet, they kept writing. I knew I had to start submitting again.

My first post-Katrina submission resulted in a rejection, but I’d also discovered that my experiences had made me stronger and less intimidated by the submission process. My critique partners encouraged me, picked me up when I was down, and gave me good, solid kicks in the butt when I needed them.

When times got rough, when the insurance companies gave us the run-around and FEMA was telling us to wait, when I missed my husband so much it hurt, I thought about authors who had been through worse, yet they persevered. So I dusted off rejected manuscripts, revised them, and sent them out again. I joined Jo Leigh’s uber-challenge group and made a goal to improve my writing weaknesses. I plotted. I wrote new material. And I queried agents.

And finally, at the time I needed good news most, the persistence paid off. I got The Call.

There were times I wanted to give up, when I was on the very verge. But thanks to stubborn friends, pushy critique partners (said with love, and they know it,) the writing community, and my supportive family, I kept submitting, and I got my sale. It’s a novella, not my ultimate goal of a full-length novel, but it’s a start.

Sometimes life sucks. There’s no other way to put it. Cry, scream, and give yourself permission to mope. And when you’re done, get back to writing. Take it one word at a time.

You can take from every experience what it has to offer you. And you cannot be defeated if you just keep taking one breath followed by another. – Oprah Winfrey.

I’ve been watching “American Idol,” as hooked on that show as the rest of America. However, I’ve about had it with Simon Cowell. Not that I want every judge to be as nice as Paula or as “dog” down sorta honest as Randy, but I would like to see a bit more niceness, particularly from the King of Mean.

Perhaps it’s because I work in an industry where my work is constantly open to criticism. Yes, I’ve had a couple Simons, usually the kind who believe in posting a scathing review in a public forum. They don’t subscribe to that “if you have nothng nice to say, don’t say anything at all” philosophy. I wonder sometimes where that went, if it went out of fashion with chinos and purple swoosh Nikes.

I think there’s a growing tendency among people to be a little more Simon. It’s too bad, really. Being nice can go a long way. Not the fake nice where you encourage people who have two left feet and no natural rhythm to pursue a career in dance, but the kind where you couch criticism with a compliment or two. Where you aren’t setting out to degrade someone and their hard work just because you can. If your neighbor’s dancing ability is in the negative digits, then congratulate her on her bravery for getting on the dance floor and refrain from the “it was a nightmare” Simon review.

There’s too much “Simonizing” in the world lately. Too many people tearing each other down, in everything from Fashion Police ambushing shows to opinion columns. It is totally fine to have an opinion, but it would be nice if more people expressed those thoughts with a bit of tact.

I used to review books. If I read a book that I truly didn’t like, for one reason or another, I didn’t review it. I figured that author got to where they were for a reason and what I didn’t like someone else would. Plus, I knew how hard that author had worked to first get published, then stay published. I was honest in my reviews, but skipped writing reviews of “wallbanger” books. I figured it was my way of staying honest, but not becoming Simon.

I remember my first novel attempts. They were hideous. I look back at them now and cringe at every sentence. However, the editors who rejected me were always encouraging, more Randy than Simon, and that was what inspired me to keep writing, hone my craft and eventually get published. As I look at my tenth book on shelves (and celebrate its local bestseller ranking :-), I know that if those editors had come back with a Simon letter, I would have given up before I’d cultivated the skills that eventually led to me being published. I thank them for their constructive honesty, for remembering to add in a kind word or two even as they were passing on my “baby.”

There is, I believe, a middle ground where you can be honest, but with kindness. What do you think? Do people like Simon go too far or are they a necessary voice of honesty?

This column is part of a series of features that will be a resource for romance readers, writers, and others in the industry.

This RTB Ten List provides links to websites that post interviews with authors. Check out their interviews with your favorite authors! We hope this list is helpful and invite you to tell us about other sites that offer author interviews in the comments.

All About Romance

New and Used Books

Once Upon a Romance

RBL Romantica

Romance at Heart

The Romance Reader

Romance Readers at Heart

A Romance Review

We Write Romance

Writerspace

This list is not an endorsement of any site and should be used for informational purposes only.

I’m under deadline and the book’s months overdue. In fact, I’m expected to have the manuscript in my editor’s hands “yesterday”, but I promised I’ll be at the FedEX office before it opens tomorrow. I’m almost done, just 100 pages more to edit…and a BLOG to write!!!!! A BLOG? 21st February. *&^%^%$$.

I’m not complaining, just stating the realities of a dream I’ve wanted for so long, but one that totally changed my life in ways that are wonderfully positive and in ways that makes me wish I were still an ordinary human buying books each month to spend a few hours of absolute bliss…as a reader.

However, my life has changed. I can still remember the excitement I felt when I got the CALL, the pride I felt when I read my first contract and signed it, the ecstasy when I saw my first advance check and the joy when I held my first-born in my hand.

Now, I’m suffering from post-partum depression in a literary sort of way. I’ve almost competed my sophomore effort, a book that was tedious and over the weekend, one that I started to hate. I grew to hate the voices I wanted to put to rest that still whispered sweet nothings in my unwilling-to-listen ears, but I still listened.

I’ve heard it said that the second book is always the most difficult to write and I’ve discovered that it’s a statement of fact, not some ramblings of an author whose muse stopped at the first book never to return. I have living, or should I say, deadline proof.

Writing is something I love, but I also hate it. I’m sure that deadlines are a necessity, How else would publisher stick to a schedule and cater to the demands of the reading public. I’m sure my situation is by no mean unique…and I’ll probably learn to handle it better next time…but I’ll still hate deadlines.

My only hope is that the second book remains the most difficult to write. I don’t want to ever endure this again. Tomorrow morning as I stand outside the FedEx office waiting for the security guard to open the door, I’ll probably be thinking about this column and the fact that I bared my soul. But that’s tomorrow.

Tonight, I have a 100 more pages to edit.

I once read that what makes the difference between a good book and a great book is merely the difference of a few lines. (FYI – I think this applies across the board – movies, speeches, etc.) You all know the lines – those that stick with you after you close the book, the lines that stand out so much you’ve got to reread them, or even, if you’re me, you write them down.

I’ve said before that I love quotes, and I’ve got them written down, all over the place, on sticky notes, my current WIP and basically on any piece of paper I come in contact with. A total quote junkie. Because, sometimes, a line’s so good you can almost taste it.

When friends ask where the inspiration came from for a certain book, I can usually pinpoint one of the lines or quotes. And what I come up with might not seem to bear any kind of resemblance to the quote itself, but in my mind, that quote triggered some synapse that propelled me forward into a new WIP.

For instance, I was watching Million Dollar Baby, and I wrote down the quote, There’s a magic of risking everything for a dream no one sees, because it was just one of those lines that haunted me.

This one, from Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman, Real love was dangerous, it got you from inside and held tight, and if you didn’t let go fast enough you might be willing to do anything for its sake, and from Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life, Maybe crazy is what they call anybody who’s got magic in them after they’re no longer a child, have stuck with me for years. I couldn’t explain why they reached out and grabbed me, but I guess that’s the beauty of them - they just did, and that was enough.

I do the same thing with advice for writers, usually from writers, quotes. Here are a few of my current favorites:

Protect the work – Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Luck occurs. But it favors the prepared.
This is a marathon, not a sprint.
The only way to win a marathon is to push yourself as hard as you can. Everyone else is simply trying to finish. To win takes something special.
(JA Konrath)

You cannot make excuses for your writing and hope to succeed. – Holly Lisle

One of my all time favorites, taken from the poem, For The Young Who Want to by Marge Piercy:

The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.

But the best advice I ever received regarding my writing career was, finish the book. Because if you don’t do that, how will you ever know you can? Something that simple (and I mean simple in relative terms) is going to tell you whether or not you have the potential to succeed in this business. And finishing the book and starting another is the only way you’re going to find those keeper lines in your own writing.

Any favorites to share? I’m always in the market for a few good quotes.

by Kate Perry

This afternoon, I settled on a bean bag, propped my laptop on my legs, and opened the chapter that was currently torturing me. I needed to write just five pages this afternoon to stay on track for my deadline. I stared at it for ten minutes before I turned to Nate and said, “Maybe we should start a band, you and I. I bet we’d be really successful.”

He grunted and continued tapping furiously on his keyboard, installing the latest Perl kernel on a client’s server or whatever it is he does at his computer.

“For real, love. We could be like the White Stripes, only not brother and sister. Because that’d just be kind of incestuous and gross.”

No grunt this time, but he did glance up from his desk.

I tapped my feet together and shifted my laptop. “But I get the tambourine, okay?”

“Hmm.”

Finally–a response. “And we’ve got to work in a cage into one of our acts. I think I’d make an excellent cage dancer. In fact, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that when I was brainstorming new careers. I mean, writing is such a stretch, isn’t it? I bet there’s a real demand for cage dancers.”

Nate didn’t have anything to say to that, but I didn’t care. Minimizing Word, I opened a browser and began researching thigh high boots. Every cage dancers needed a pair.

Half an hour later, I scored the perfect pair. AND it came in red.

“Love,” I called to Nate. “I found a pair of boots that would be SO great for cage dancing. They’re only around $400.”

Okay, I was rounding down quite a bit (like two hundred dollars) but Nate didn’t have to know that. Not that he’d complain–Nate is probably the only man on earth who understands the need for fine footwear.

Only he didn’t say anything. Not even a manly peep out of him.

Pout. “Don’t you want me to have the boots?” I asked in the little girl voice I knew worked so well. “You don’t want the other cage dancers to mock me, do you?”

Nate looked up from his computer, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “What?”

“The other cage dancers will laugh at me if I don’t have these boots.” I turned my laptop around so he could see and pointed at the screen.

His frown deepened. “What other cage dancers?”

“The ones in the union.” Cage dancers had to have a union, right?

“Um. Love. What do cage dancers have to do with anything?” he asked carefully.

“Because I’m going to be the cage dancer for our band.” Duh. I huffed. Wasn’t he listening?

He stared at me, that gaze that says I-love-you-but-I-have-no-idea-what-you’re-saying. Then he said, “Aren’t you supposed to be writing now?”

Oh sure, pull that on me. I sniffed indignantly. “Maybe.”

“Don’t you have five more pages you need to write today?”

I hated it when he asked me questions in that reasonable tone of voice. “So?” I barked, perhaps a touch defensively.

“So don’t you think you should work on it?” he asked gently. “Procrastinating isn’t going to get your manuscript finished.”

What was it I found attractive about his intelligence again? I resettled my laptop in front of me and grumbled. “It’s SO unfair when you use common sense on me.”

He chuckled (I could say how it was low and sexy but Nate already gets enough fan mail through my website) and walked over to me. He bent down and kissed my forehead. “Write your pages and we’ll get you a reward later.”

“The cage dancer boots?” I asked hopefully.

He smiled. “Whatever you like.”

Hmm… “Whatever?”

His expression became cautious. “Within reason.”

I heaved a sigh, maximized Word, and looked at the dreaded chapter again. “Are you sure I need to write this afternoon?” I asked. “Because I think there’s laundry to be folded. And the toilet bowl needs to be scrubbed.”

“Just write,” he ordered in his benevolent way.

So I did. Utter crap, but that was what editing was for, right?

*For information on how you can submit to Open Blog Night, click here.

In one of my first columns for Romancing the Blog, I wrote about why I didn’t read e-books. I love print books so much that I couldn’t imagine making a switch. Since then, however, I’ve bought and read more than 30 e-books. At first, I printed the stories and had them bound; now, I’ve switched to reading PDFs on my laptop. I buy print copies of the e-books if they are available, even though they are often three times the price of a downloadable version. I still prefer reading a paperback over reading a book on screen.

Now that I’ve jumped into the e-book waters and waded around a bit, I have developed some opinions about how e-book publishers could help more print-book readers also become e-book readers.

Educate us.
If you want more readers to start reading e-books, then consider the questions a new e-book reader will have. Many readers won’t know what to expect when they see word counts provided as the length of a story. I write short articles and have some familiarity with word counts. Even so, I don’t pick up a book and think, “This is about XXXX words.” OK, 75,000 words is more than 40,000 words, but what will I get when I buy a 75,000-word story? In a recent Romancing the Blog discussion, some people commented that page count can give a false indication of how long a book is. I agree, but page count is something more readers are familiar with. If you don’t want to give a page count, fine. But figure out some other way to help readers understand word count in general. Some readers, myself included, will figure it out as they go. Others might give up after being disappointed in the length of a story.

Provide longer excerpts.
When you walk into a bookstore and pick up a print book, you always have the option of sitting down and reading the first 10 pages (or more) of a book. This especially helps with authors you haven’t read before. Reading 10 pages will give readers a good sense of an author’s style. Readers of e-books don’t have that option. While all the places I’ve visited provide excerpts, many of them are very short. Giving readers a longer excerpt to start with will help them make better buying choices and will ultimately result in more purchases. Why? Because the reader who is happy with her purchases won’t hesitate to come back and buy more.

Remember me.
If you want to advertise in a way that appeals to readers, then put yourself in the reader’s head. As a reader, I want to know what I’m getting. I want to feel like I’m getting a good value for my money. I want to know I’m getting a good story. And when I visit the site of an e-book publisher, I want to feel like it’s talking to me, someone who is still pretty new to e-books, not just someone who knows all about them.

Hire skilled proofreaders.
I’ve added this because I read two e-books in one week (from two different companies, by the way) that had problems. My experience as a full-time writer and editor tends to spill over into my reading life, and I definitely notice when a book has frequent mistakes that should have been caught by a good proofreader. In fact, repeated errors can pull me right out of a story. I’m not suggesting that print books are perfect, or that all e-books are poorly edited, because neither is true. But I have read a few e-books that contain rather significant mistakes.

Despite my preference for reading books in print format I can hold in my hand, I’ve discovered some wonderful authors through e-books. I’ve added several e-book authors to by auto-buy list. I like having expanded reading options—now I choose not only from a variety of print books, but e-books as well.