# What to do if your novel keeps getting rejected, but those that read it love it?



## hnorwood (May 12, 2013)

I am at a complete stand still with my novel.  Those who have read it "all" told me they could not put it down.   Even those who bought it off of Amazon.com for their kindles.  Yet, I am continually rejected by agents.  I have re-written my cover letter and synopsis and followed the guide lines according to writers market.  Any suggestions?


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## Jamber (May 12, 2013)

Hi hnorwood,

It seems to me (FWIW) that casual readers will factor price into the way they perceive a story. That is, they're happy with some patchy elements (typos, malapropisms, stale ideas, whatever) as long as the story has something they want.

By contrast, agents don't want value for money but something they can ask top price for. That means professional editing, proofing, and all the other glamour _on top of_ the trade requirement for an astonishingly new idea that somehow perfectly fits a zeitgeist or genre. This probably holds true for publishers as well (especially these days).

Of course, you may have written a fantastic book and have polished it to a state of near-perfection. Even then there's so much that has to be right for an agent to take you on (personality, style, a gap in their schedules). If your book is as good as its readers suggest, then keep shopping it around. So much has to 'click' with agents -- the more who have the chance to read it, the better.

It's almost at the point where we need agents to acquire agents...

Good luck,
Jennie


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## Steerpike (May 12, 2013)

I agree with what Jamber said, and will also point out that there are plenty of reasons besides the work itself that an agent might reject something.


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## skip.knox (May 13, 2013)

How long have you been trying? Plenty of people try for years before succeeding in getting an agent.

Moreover, if you have already published on Kindle, I'm not sure anyone's going to touch it. It's already been published.


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## psychotick (May 13, 2013)

Hi,

I was going to say exactly the same thing. If the book's published agents aren't going to touch it. It's fairly much game over for that book. However if you want to go through the trade publishing route then there's nothing to stop you doing it with another book. Agents will of course try to judge whether they want to handle you based on your previous published works though. So if your first book sells well that's good to throw into your letters.

Also do realise that agents will pick up authors based on a number of factors and how good the work is will be only one of them. There's also how well it will sell, if it's in one of the genre they handle,and most, most importantly, if the cover letter etc meets their requirements. I cannot emphasise this last one strongly enough. The letter you send is vital. It must be completely error free and read well. Ignore what the writers guide says the submission must be. Send the submission according to what the agent requires. The submission must meet their requirements exactly. If they say they want the first fifty pages double spaced, don't give them sixty pages one and a half spaced. And make certain that you only submit you letters to agents who deal with your genre.

Then too as others have said most people probably never even get an agent and of those who do, most likely have to suffer through years of the process. So don't give up.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Steerpike (May 13, 2013)

That's not always true. My book was self-published for a year, which I disclosed to an agent I was talking to, and she said that didn't matter and she'd look at it anyway. 

There are authors who self-published on Amazon who later picked up agents and traditional publishers for the same work they self-published. If I'm not mistaken, Michael Sullivan, who posts her from time to time, self-published his books before his current traditional publisher published the same works. I think the landscape is changing pretty rapidly.

If you have eBooks up on Amazon and no one is buying them, I suspect getting the interest of a traditional publisher will be harder.


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## AnnaBlixt (May 13, 2013)

I started with self-publishing. Through that route, I made contact with a new publisher. The inital deal with the publisher was for the already-published novel plus its unpublished sequel. It is by no means "over" for a novel if you have already published it, but you might want to get to work on a new novel nevertheless. Use the critiques from the first one to reinforce your strenghts and reduce your weaknesses. 

If you get another novel published, you can revisit the possibility of a republish of the first one at a later time.


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## PaulineMRoss (May 13, 2013)

I'm not even sure why anyone would want to spend time looking for an agent and a traditional publisher if the book is already self-published. You've done the hard work already, it seems to me (and will continue to do it, even if you get a publishing deal), and you get a nice fat percentage of every sale. But if you really want to be picked up, selling lots of ebooks is a good way to attract their attention.

By the way, you're missing a trick in not mentioning the title of your book or linking to it in your sig. This forum is stuffed with writers who will happily look at the Amazon sample and tell you exactly why an agent may not be interested.


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## A. E. Lowan (May 13, 2013)

I'll also ask - how long have you been trying?  My mother taught me that you're not a real writer unless you can wallpaper with rejection letters.  So, if agents are turning you down, keep trying.  There are LOTS of agents out there.

Also, I have to agree on how vital that query is.  Research queries, read agent blogs on what they look for - and note that many of them say different things.  Nailing that query is the first step in getting your foot in the door.  Maybe let some of us take a look at it?  We have many experienced writers on this site who may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Plus, make absolutely sure you're addressing your queries to the right people.  Not only do you want to make sure that agent represents your specific genre (for example, who do they represent?), but there is also the fact that the publishing industry is fairly dynamic, with people moving from house to house with alarming frequency at times.  Sometimes, by the time the agency listings for the year get into print, that agent may have moved to another house.  So, check the agency's website, or if even that seems unsure make sure to call them and ask the receptionist to confirm that you are sending your query to the right agent.  And, for heaven's sake, triple check how the agent's name is spelled.  Professionalism will always earn you brownie points.

Oh!  And the most important thing you should be doing while sending out queries...  *Write your next book!*  If this is your first book, you can only benefit from the experience of writing, and your next book, and the book after that, will be stronger and stronger.  So keep writing!


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## hnorwood (May 13, 2013)

Thanks Pauline!  You have been very helpful and it is greatly appreciated.


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## hnorwood (May 13, 2013)

Thank you everyone for such great advice!  It's all been very helpful and appreciated. A lot of great information as well. I will say that I was told by both publishers and agents that having your novel self published does not effect whether or not they will accept it.   

The name is "War of the Pretenders"  it has sample pages on amazon.com if anyone wants to take a peak and add further advice.  Greatly appreciated.


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## brokethepoint (May 13, 2013)

Did you get any feedback in your rejections?  Is it possible to request information on why they rejected?

That would be where I would start.

Secondly is the length correct for the books classification.  The other thing I can think of is are you hitting your correct market and agent for your book.

I will tell you the opposite of what the others will tell you.  Just because you were rejected doesn't mean that it is not ready or not worthy of being published.  It doesn't mean that it is, but I have seen enough books that were cringe worthy and published to accept the "it is not ready to be published."

What I would do is find some people to proof it and see what they find.  I would also see if I could find some people that didn't like and it and find out why.  I would start writing another book.


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## psychotick (May 13, 2013)

Hi Steerpike, Anna,

It's good to hear that agents are willing to look at self pubbed books, but I would think that it's still the exception. For most people just getting an agent is a step beyond what they will achieve, and doing it with a book already pubbed has to be that much harder.

Having said this as you say the landscape is changing, and over on Kindle Boards I read a thread a while back in which someone said agents are now actively trawling the lists of self pubbed books looking for their next author. Don't know how true that is.

However my advice remains the same. For a newbie author with one book out, ignore the agent submissions with the already pubbed book. It's never going to be your best shot. Submit with your next book and use the sales information / reviews from the first self pubbed book to back your submission. After all if nothing else it hopefully proves that you can write a novel so gives them something to work with.

Cheers, Greg.


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## SeverinR (May 13, 2013)

I think 80% of most submissions never get out of the mail room. (I think even higher, I think maybe even 90)
Rejects most often are not following the requirements set forth for submission, even the smallest thing will get it tossed.  The people in the mailroom are paid to make the stack disappear.  Pass a stack of manuscripts to large and the next group will get upset, because they have to handle that stack.  Make people upset and you might lose your job.
If you can get your script out of the mailroom, you have passed many submitters already.  So if you get a letter that talks about your book, you know someone read at least some of it.  If you get a chain letter, you never know.

You can have a triple best seller, but if you make even one mistake, it will be tossed.


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## Steerpike (May 13, 2013)

I've posted this elsewhere, before.

Why was my story rejected? Why Did My Story Get Rejected?

An early point in the article: "People who have no "writing ability" are making a good living at writing, and people who write very well indeed have nothing but a collection of rejection slips and some compliments on their writing style."

Note that while the article deals with short stories, many of the same principles apply to novel submissions to various publishers. MZB was  very successful as both a writer and editor.


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## wordwalker (May 13, 2013)

PaulineMRoss said:


> By the way, you're missing a trick in not mentioning the title of your book or linking to it in your sig. This forum is stuffed with writers who will happily look at the Amazon sample and tell you exactly why an agent may not be interested.



Speaking of links, the best kind are one-click addresses that people can try out at once. And when you're not on the forum or somewhere else where you can tag something as a URL (or even if you are), the most useful link may still be the URL itself with its "www." prefix: even if a reader copies and pastes that, most software will treat www-dot-anything-dot-com as a clickable link.


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## psychotick (May 13, 2013)

Hi,

Thanks Steerpike, Marion's got an interesting take and it does seem to be aimed at magazines and editors rather than agents, but still very relevant. I think the take home message is make sure that what you submit is done so exactly in accordance with what an editor / agent wants. After all you can't do much about many of those other things like an agent's beef with a plot etc, and you should already have done everything you can to make your story enjoyable / readable, so making sure you don't screw up at the end is pretty much what you have left.

By the way, why is Dean R Koontz grim? I find his work really enjoyable, and he never seems to do anything nasty like kill off his MC - something that woul irk me no end.

Cheers, Greg.


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## hnorwood (May 13, 2013)

Thanks to everyone! A lot of great information and its greatly appreciated.


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## hnorwood (May 13, 2013)

Yes, I did get feedback.  "Not what we are looking for at this particular time."   Also I have followed all the guidelines of the 30 agents and publishers I have sent to.  Even the correct word count :/  I have been submitting for a year.  However, I just read that a New York best Seller got to 86 rejections and was going to quite at 126!  So, maybe I am being premature?  I also had it editing done before I self published it.  Thank you for your advice.  I will start another book


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## hnorwood (May 13, 2013)

Thanks I will read it.


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## hnorwood (May 13, 2013)

Thanks! I will


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## The Dark One (May 16, 2013)

It's kinda been asked above, but why are you even bothering with agents? I slaved for years to get an agent, finally landed one of the biggest in my country (after landing a one book deal with a small publisher by myself) and she was a complete waste of time. Sent my latest book out to only two publishers in two years! Both publishers had nothing but praise for the book but she refused to follow up with them to see whether they wanted any issues addressed with a view to taking a second look. So I sacked her, started sending it out myself, and have now got another small publisher working with me on the book (hasn't quite agreed to publish it yet but is giving me heaps of his time and energy to get it right) and I've sold an option on the film rights to a major film studio. I've had screenplays optioned before so I have no illusions about whether the book will be turned into a film, but the news of the option will only reflect well on the book when announced. I haven't told the publisher yet, but hoping that's my ace in the hole.

My point is - make sure you've got a good product and then get active and creative yourself to create interest in your work. Agents are (IMHO) going the way of the dodo.


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## Devor (May 16, 2013)

hnorwood said:


> I am at a complete stand still with my novel.  Those who have read it "all" told me they could not put it down.   Even those who bought it off of Amazon.com for their kindles.  Yet, I am continually rejected by agents.  I have re-written my cover letter and synopsis and followed the guide lines according to writers market.  Any suggestions?



If everyone who has read it loved it, then I think you need to find a wider range of readers, or else a more honest one.


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## A. E. Lowan (May 17, 2013)

Here's a little something to lift your spirits...

If You're Feeling Down and Out About a Rejection Letter



> "Rejection’s not easy. I mean, it’s like somebody, every day of your life, saying, ‘You know, you’re a real loser.’ And you wonder if he has a point. But the truth is that you don’t care. And I never did. I was never bothered by letters of rejection. I never believed one of them. And I received them by the hundreds, over many years.
> 
> “You do it a day at a time. You just put your rejection slips in a shoebox and tell yourself one day you’re going to autograph them and sell them at auction.”


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## hnorwood (May 18, 2013)

Thank you for sharing   I think you are right.


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## hnorwood (May 18, 2013)

True.  I also had people who were my worst critics read it, who even don't like that genre.  Here is what I got, "I did not like some of the characters and hate that they are vampires, but I will say I could not put the book down."  So, the same theme at least by all the readers is they could not put it down.


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## SeverinR (May 20, 2013)

SeverinR said:


> I think 80% of most submissions never get out of the mail room. (I think even higher, I think maybe even 90)
> Rejects most often are not following the requirements set forth for submission, even the smallest thing will get it tossed.  The people in the mailroom are paid to make the stack disappear.  Pass a stack of manuscripts to large and the next group will get upset, because they have to handle that stack.  Make people upset and you might lose your job.
> If you can get your script out of the mailroom, you have passed many submitters already.  So if you get a letter that talks about your book, you know someone read at least some of it.  If you get a chain letter, you never know.
> 
> You can have a triple best seller, but if you make even one mistake, it will be tossed.



I should have mentioned the above information was from a Literary Agent who did a free seminar. His genre was romance, so other then general info, it wasn't a step in the door. lol.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 4, 2013)

Here is a blog with some nice general info about shopping for agents...

/4-things-to-consider-when-researching-literary-agents


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## BWFoster78 (Jun 5, 2013)

hnorwood said:


> Thank you everyone for such great advice!  It's all been very helpful and appreciated. A lot of great information as well. I will say that I was told by both publishers and agents that having your novel self published does not effect whether or not they will accept it.
> 
> The name is "War of the Pretenders"  it has sample pages on amazon.com if anyone wants to take a peak and add further advice.  Greatly appreciated.



You seem to be sincere in asking for an honest opinion of the book, so I'll give you one.  Understand, however, that technique issues bother me far more than it does the average reader.  You have to be pretty darn good to hold my interest.

After reading the first half page of your sample, my opinion is that the writing is extremely amateurish.  I would not wish to read past the portion that I did, much less purchase it.

Specifically:

On the plus side, the descriptions are vivid.

Negatives -

Nothing happens in the first two paragraphs.  They're a mixtrue of backstory and a description of what just happened.  Better to throw the reader into the events that are happening.

Lot of telling in the first two paragraphs.  I'm not a proponent of always show, never tell, but your use at the beginning does not draw in the reader.  I think that, from the small sample that I read, you probably need to show a lot more than you currently do.

Small issue, but you shouldn't have one character act in the same paragraph while another character speaks.

You use too many adverbs.  Choose better words instead.

A phrase like "Then character reminded him" is being used as a speech tag.  Putting aside the opinion that a lot of editors advocate that it's best to use only "said," you punctuated it incorrectly.  Since it is being used as a speech tag, you need a comma after him instead of a period.

"He asked as more of a statement then an actual question."  First, you meant "than," not "then."  Second, put a period at the end of the quote in question and delete this sentence entirely.

I could go on (really, I found many more issues that I could mention), but, basically, the piece is full of errors.  If you've had it edited, it's not apparent.  In my opinion, it needs a lot of work before I'd be willing to read it, much less advocate publishing it if I were an agent.

As I read back over this, I feel like I'm trashing you, and I hate sounding like that.  I truly am trying to help.  What elevated my writing is going to a writing group and having them completely destroy me.  If I hadn't gone through that, I wouldn't be where I am now (not to say that my writing is there yet by any stretch).  

I do hope this helped you some.  If it didn't, please disregard; as I said, I'm a lot more nitpicky about technique than the average reader.

Thanks.

Brian

EDIT: Also, please keep in mind that the best of the best get published.  I don't particularly love Sanderson, but read his stuff versus the vast majority of self-published works.  It's simply much better, especially from a point of being polished and the use of sound technique.  It takes a lot of time above and beyond simply getting a book to a "complete" stage for it to be good enough for a publisher.


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## Addison (Jun 5, 2013)

....Most of the advice I wanted to give has already been given. 

But what I can tell you is that, if you really want an agent, you REALLY need to do your homework. Writers Digest gives updates on new agents or known agents looking for new material. And don't just look at the agent but also their agency. Read the fine print. You gotta bust your butt to get an agent as hard as you had to bust your butt to pass your worst/least favorite class. 

When you do the research you don't have to query one agent at a time. You can do several simultaneously, just be sure to put that in your query or cover letter. If any rejection letters come, read them carefully as they can tell you if you're getting close to the right agent. 

If no agent I believe that DAW or PYR publishing takes un-agented manuscripts. Just follow their submission guidelines.

Hope this helped. 
Good luck!


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## Addison (Jun 5, 2013)

Here's a link to Writers Digest that may be useful.

4 Things to Consider When Researching Literary Agents | WritersDigest.com


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## hnorwood (Jun 5, 2013)

Thank you Brian for taking the time out to look it over.  I spent year writing it and then another trying to make it better. Apparently I need a new editor to look it over.  However, I will also be looking it over and taking your advice, thank you.  It really is a great story.  It is my first book so I expected this.  I will go at it again.  I did look it over and have not found as many errors as you seemed to have found (grammar errors), but I will have someone else look it over as well.  Thanks again for taking the time to look at it.
Heather


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## hnorwood (Jun 5, 2013)

Thank you!


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## hnorwood (Jun 5, 2013)

Brian, I forgot to ask, in reading only half a page how can you possibly be able to have that many errors found?  I am curious as I am new at this.  Thank you


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## hnorwood (Jun 5, 2013)

Thanks Addison,   Thank you for your help it is greatly appreciated.  I am a member of the writers market and it is very helpful too.  

Heather


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## BWFoster78 (Jun 5, 2013)

hnorwood said:


> Brian, I forgot to ask, in reading only half a page how can you possibly be able to have that many errors found?  I am curious as I am new at this.  Thank you



Heather,

Please understand that I'm defining "error" as "you did something differently than I believe is proper."  You'd get varying degrees of acceptance of everything that I term an error if you polled this forum.

I tend to believe that there are a fairly rigid set of standards to which a majority of editors adhere and, for writing to be considered professional quality, it needs to follow those criteria pretty closely.

Using this standard, I consider the overuse of adverbs an "error."  Others would disagree.

Using this standard, it's also pretty easy to find errors in your work, even in a half page.

I am pretty firm in stating that it behooves any aspiring author to understand what these standards are and make an informed decision about their validity.

Hope this helps!

Brian

EDIT: I will also say, however, that the work did not read well to me.  It didn't flow well or engage me.  You can have all the "errors" you want as long as you're able to engage the reader.  When I start reading something and it fails to pull me in, that's when I start looking to try to find reasons for the failure.  My belief is that you'll stand a much better chance of drawing in the reader if you don't have the "errors."


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## hnorwood (Jun 5, 2013)

Brian,

Thank you very much that was greatly helpful.

Heather


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## Rise of the Tiger (Jun 6, 2013)

I'm a late-comer to this party, but I heartily side with those who point out that it is NOT game-over for a book if it's been published. Agents and publishers pick up self-published stuff all the time. The real catch is: Is it going to SELL? If they think they can make money off of it, it doesn't matter where it is. 

If you're still looking for to get your work out there, I would highly recommend publishing it as a serial on a blog. You'll get great feedback and exposure for your work while you work on another book to release in a more traditional way. I did mine by working with local artists to share a sketch. It turned out to be a great situation for everyone, and I learned a lot.

Have fun!


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## hnorwood (Jun 7, 2013)

Rise of the Tiger- Thank you.  I am going to try that.  Lately I have forgotten to that I do enjoy writing. LOL.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 7, 2013)

Honey, I'm going to ask a fairly sensitive question, considering all the work you've put into this... but where is your second book?  Not being familiar with your current work, I know first books can often be deeply personal and end up lovingly placed in shelves for some very good reasons.  Not saying these are any of yours, but this may be worth a read...

4 Tips When Writing from Experience | WritersDigest.com

Keep strong and write on.  Most writers first books never see print, and if they do, it's long after they have made a name for themselves.  Don't give up.


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## hnorwood (Jun 8, 2013)

A.E. Lowen-  I wrote 21 chapters of the second part to my first book and also was writing another story before I got very sick.  I got a very poisonous toxin in my system ( a couple months ago) and it has effected my CNS.  I am driving again and functioning on my own and just started a couple weeks back able to use my lap top again (not for long periods of time yet)  I am being told by doctors that it will be a long hall could take up to two years before I am close to my old self.  So the next book I finish when I can write again will have much more meaning than the first.  Thanks and I trying not to give up


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## Rise of the Tiger (Jun 8, 2013)

*Don't Give up!*

Hnorwood -- I had forgotten that I loved writing, too. I was writing other things in a professional environment and got discouraged and very bogged down in the acidic, anti-creative situation I was in. Taking a step back from that scene, and then putting my work out on my own, knowing it was just an experiment, helped me to rediscover my love for writing. And I agree with A.E. Lowan -- while you're serializing that first book online, write another one. Be sure to share the links where we can read your work too!


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## hnorwood (Jun 8, 2013)

Rise of the Tiger--  Thanks I will.  Just waiting to get my health back so I can start writing again. I can't wait.


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