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To expand a bit on the legality of copyright, EVERYTHING is copyright by the person that created it the moment they created it. They only exception is that if somebody hires you to create something, the copyright goes to them. So if somebody wants you to write a story, they pay you, and you write what they tell you, they own it unless specified otherwise. It's by no means mandatory to send anything to the Library of Congress or pay the fees ever. You can slap "Copyright whoever" on everything you write perfectly legally. The main thing that registering it does is makes it easier to sue the pants off of somebody if they try to infringe. See, this has to do with how court cases work. YOU know you own the copyright and the person stealing it from you probably knows as well. But the problem is the jury doesn't know. The way juries work, they've never met either of you and came into the case probably knowing nothing about the two of you beyond the fact that one person has claimed that somebody else stole their work. (disclaimer: I'm talking about U.S. courts - international ones my be different) Once the case is brought to court, you need to prove that you were, in fact, the author and that the other person did, in fact, knowingly infringe on your copyright. That can be difficult in some cases, depending on how many people knew you created something, if you were writing under a pen name, and so forth. Court cases also cost money as you'll want a lawyer along for the ride. It becomes much quicker if you can just call up the LoC, walk into the court with a folder full of papers, and go *plap* yes, your honor, I do in fact hold the copyright to this story. I have a pile of paperwork right here from the government that says I registered it three years ago under this pen name, which I use instead of *insert real name here.* That jerk over there stole my story and I am now suing him. It's pretty difficult to disprove copyright claims when it's registered. Copyright can be proven if it isn't registered but it can be a major, major pain. Even if you did manage to prove it, it was probably a longish court case.
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Jun 17, 2011 03:07
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Am I allowed to put mine in here? I don't want to throw up links and book covers if it's a faux pas... Ours is a fantasy anthology but it's not *exactly* self-published. What happened was this: a few years back, on an editor/self-published writer's little forum community, a bunch of us decided to put together a book with short stories from each of us. The editor/self-publisher who ran the place put it all together, accepted the best of what was offered (not everyone made it), edited extensively (she has over 30 years of experience there) and printed it out. Each author bought as many copies at printer's prices as they wanted (for one time only), and we each sold them on our own and/or got local booksellers to consign. Though it's been in print since August 2010, it's only recently that we've gotten the anthology onto Kindle and NOOK. And that was because I pressed her, heh. The editor and I became close friends over the course of the editing process and she trusted me to run the electronic side as she's an older lady who'd been having severe health problems. This thread is fabulous. I've been following for quite some time and have picked up several worthwhile stories (I'll get more when I get paid next week...had to have over $700 in dental work recently and it's made a serious dent in the ol' finances  ), not to mention a TON of great advice. Like some of you, it seems, I am also severely introverted and, shall we say, "marketing impaired." The tips alone are a goldmine.For all intents and purposes, we do seem to have the same limitations as many of the self-published I've spoken with (that is, we have to work our asses off to sell anything). In the last week, I've brought our e-book pricing down and down, until today, when it's gone down to $0.99. There's been one sale in all this time, though I suppose I need some patience trying out this new price. Anyway, I wanted to ask. Thanks 
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Jun 17, 2011 04:02
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Yes! By all means please don't hold out on the links. Exposure is ironically very hard on the internet because there are millions of avenues to plug things at and everyone is advertising something, whether it is their views or a product. And don't be discouraged by anything, just do a little promotion every day (or spend it writing, as getting more things out there is marketing in and of itself) in a few different sites/forums and interact with readers via social media.
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Jun 17, 2011 05:22
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I think that anything non-legacy-published (meaning, you didn't go through an agent and sold something to one of the big bastards) fits in here. And I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'm thrilled you've gotten useful info out of the thread. Couldn't be happier I make it a point to buy everything posted here, so hit us with those links! EDIT: There are indie-publishers, and I think folks who've gotten their books published through them fit in here, too (unless there are objections -- I bow to the regulars here). Indie is indie. FingerbangMisfire fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 07:12
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Someone at one point mentioned all the goon writers here contributing to a short-story tome. Is there still interest in that? We could set up a 'Goon Pub' Amazon account and see what's what.
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Jun 17, 2011 07:21
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I'd be all over that.
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Jun 17, 2011 09:07
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I would probably be willing to contribute to something like that.
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Jun 17, 2011 09:11
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Count me in.
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Jun 17, 2011 09:31
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Four writers diggin' it. Anyone else interested should say so within, I dunno, a week's time. Then we give ourselves 30 days of writing (as of two weeks from today, more or less). Cool?
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Jun 17, 2011 11:03
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I'm down.
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Jun 17, 2011 12:39
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I have a little short story I could throw your way if that goes down...a goony anthology would really be all over the place, genre-wise, though, wouldn't it? Is that OK? Anyway here's our book promo-page:  and here's the cover:  (I'm Stephanie) It's very "nice" fantasy...that is, no sex, no profanity, etc. I hesitate to say "all ages" but I guess most of it is along those lines. I'm cool with my 9-year-old niece reading it, for instance (though she might get bored with one or two of the stories as the two older writers, Kirchman and Tuomi, have a bit of a dense writing style). I've joined up with the Kindle Boards (I'm just SCiofalo there). I post stuff on my Facebook...which gets tons of "likes" but very little in the way of actual help. I also have a crappy little wordpress blog that I update intermittently. I've stubbornly resisted making a Twitter account all this time (I'm old and crotchety I guess)...does it help that much? And Tumblr? Do you see results? I have a LinkedIn account I barely touch, too, heh. Besides the anthology stories, I have a five-book series in the works, the first book of which is actually being considered by a small publisher I met via a writers' conference last April. If that falls through for whatever reason, I have some more places to try, I guess (I know I have a decent synopsis, it seems a shame to waste it) but it's so nice to know this venue exists...and learning self-marketing skills seems especially valuable to develop all around. Oh! And lest I forget: Kindle version and the NOOK version of the anthology. Sorry there's no cover on the NOOK one yet...I've had a frustrating time with them. The image is all within their ranges (image type, image size, file size) but for some reason it's not going through. And their support has been less than expeditious... Anyway! I gotta get to work. I can't post there but I'll have my Kindle on me at least, and some goon stories patiently awaiting my attention 
Monkey Hat fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 13:45
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What I like about Smashwords so far (just published there last night) is that I can make my own promotions. Made myself a "free" coupon, and gave it out to some twitter followers last night. Got some people interested, which is always nice.
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Jun 17, 2011 14:42
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Kallisti Applecore posted:Bought. Though I have to admit I know very little when it comes to fantasy and I read even less of the stuff. Still, the artwork itself looks very professional. Did someone in your group design it?
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Jun 17, 2011 16:28
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Myrddin Emrys posted:What I like about Smashwords so far (just published there last night) is that I can make my own promotions. Made myself a "free" coupon, and gave it out to some twitter followers last night. Got some people interested, which is always nice. And I appreciate the code! Loading it up on my Kindle now for a lunchtime read.
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Jun 17, 2011 16:46
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Mortanis posted:And I appreciate the code! Loading it up on my Kindle now for a lunchtime read. Oh, you grabbed one? Haha, excellent, I lost track of who the goons are on my twitter feed.
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Jun 17, 2011 19:23
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Bought. Though I have to admit I know very little when it comes to fantasy and I read even less of the stuff. Thanks! I hope we're a decent sample of the genre. Your Dangers of Field Work is the first thing I'm reading. You see, I see the words "horror" and "sci-fi" together and I think of Carpenter's The Thing and I get all excited... Funny about the artist...she's actually an old (online) friend of mine. When it came time to pick cover art, the editor, Sandra, asked us for ideas. Immediately, I went "Ooh! Ooh! I do know someone!" Sandra visited the artist's site and fell in love. The rest was history. OK, now that I'm off work, I can go tag everyone's pages! Cheers.
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Jun 17, 2011 20:23
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Kallisti Applecore posted:Carpenter's The Thing Literally my favorite movie of all time. Just checked out the artist's site. Very awesome and clearly very talented. And thank you for buying Dangers! I was in full-on Twilight Zone mode when I wrote that. It's short but sweet. FingerbangMisfire fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 20:49
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This is an interesting article about the newest problem for the kindle market: book spam http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/16/us-amazon-kindle-spam-idUSTRE75F68620110616 Makes me wonder if raising the barrier to entry would positively affect the market - the itunes ibookstore requires an ISBN - which cuts spammers out because it's too expensive for them to make it worth their while.
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Jun 17, 2011 22:35
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clockworkjoe posted:This is an interesting article about the newest problem for the kindle market: book spam http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/16/us-amazon-kindle-spam-idUSTRE75F68620110616 EDIT: Also, OH GOD, I've been tagging books on the Kindle Boards' tagging exchange thread. I did 10+ pages before my eyes started bleeding but I got several more tags on my own, at least...
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Jun 17, 2011 23:33
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Kallisti Applecore posted:I have a little short story I could throw your way if that goes down...a goony anthology would really be all over the place, genre-wise, though, wouldn't it? Is that OK? I think that would be part of the charm--that is to say, just speaking for myself. And I'll also agree that the artwork looks great. About the proposed goon anthology: First of all, I'm interested. Now, here's a question: What about adult content? I have an idea for a story kicking around in my head. The focus of the story isn't erotic, but in order to work, it's going to have to have an explicit sex scene. Yes? No? If not, I can do a different story.
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Jun 18, 2011 00:25
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Mine is going to be called, "I Make People's Brains Explode". (r) A sublime and heart-warming story about a young man whose latent telekinetic power causes people's heads to explode every time he achieves orgasm. And he's 15 years old. With an internet connection.
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Jun 18, 2011 02:10
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You can write what you want. If it contains explicit sex, we can just include a warning in the description. The real question is: under whose account should we entrust this? And how do we handle payments? MattDaddy" posted:Mine is going to be called, "I Make People's Brains Explode". (r) Hahaha
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Jun 18, 2011 04:14
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FingerbangMisfire posted:You can write what you want. If it contains explicit sex, we can just include a warning in the description. The real question is: under whose account should we entrust this? And how do we handle payments? I will say that I have no interest in handling the $$$ - Hell, I'm still waiting to get my first payment from Amazon! (What the freak takes so long anyways?) I think the best way to share the earnings would be to simply split it up evenly. 10 people = everyone gets 10% of the profits. Or we can donate it all to charity. Whatevs.
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Jun 18, 2011 04:37
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Charity's a good idea.
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Jun 18, 2011 04:39
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Yeah, I don't like the implications of splitting up the money. Some kind of charity would be great.
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Jun 18, 2011 07:01
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The Incredible Ed posted:Yeah, I don't like the implications of splitting up the money. 
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Jun 18, 2011 10:24
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Quantify! posted:I agree. Paying people for their work might give some people pause. I think he just means the logistics of it, since we'd all be contributing to one book sold under one goonthology banner. Ie; who has access & who doles out the dough. Doesn't really matter though, since I think we're all down for the charity thing (provided the goddamn book actually sells any copies, haha).
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Jun 18, 2011 10:29
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Yeah, since I'm guessing it'd sell for $0.99? Split between 10 or so people? Charity's a good idea. But I don't know, man, I think the one of mine I'm thinking of would be too...nice after what you've all been saying (I swear I write with sex and violence and profanity sometimes, when it's necessary. I do! Haha)And finished Vitka's story in one sitting. Very short...but you were right. Very cool & Twilight Zoney.
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Jun 18, 2011 14:41
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Thank you kindly  If we're really super in the face gonna try to go forward with this, there's a couple questions to address. Should we register a new Amazon author account? (I'm thinking we should, though the tax info is gonna be weird) What genre/theme are we going to tackle? (It'd be a mess if we had stories going in a billion different directions) What's the price going to be? (If we somehow end up with a novel-length creation here, I think 2.99 would be fair. It is going to charity, after all) What length should we all shoot for? What charity would we like monies to go to? (In a brazen display of nepotism, I'd like to nominate my brother's charity Blue Redefined) And we're all going to have to volunteer for editing, I think. EDIT: I just got done with an overnight shift, so I'll probably be off the grid for a while. FingerbangMisfire fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Jun 18, 2011 |
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Jun 18, 2011 14:58
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It's finally online, yay! quote:In the technological dystopia of New Delta, the Avian Syndicate, a criminal empire made up entirely of large purple birds, wants the one thing they can't steal. To get it, they recruit an abused goblin shaman, cast out from her people; with her help, they devise a daring plan that no one sees coming. Find out want they want to steal for the low low price of .99 cents! --- This is the first book in a planned series, the second is being edited as we speak and I've just started on the third. The genre is a fantasy thriller with heavy cyberpunk elements. And yes, I've really written a book featuring purple macaws with arms as the villains, and they work quite well because I know parrots quite well. Later books won't all feature fairly original villains obviously, but I decided to use them to start off with a bang. Roshi fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Jun 18, 2011 |
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Jun 18, 2011 15:33
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That's too weird not to buy. *clicks button*
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Jun 18, 2011 16:01
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Thank you kindly I'm feeling a "Twilight Zone/Outer Limits" motif here for some reason. Can everyone do that? I mean, you are not bound to a particular genre if you go that route. Sci-fi, fantasy, it all could work, as long as it's got a weird vibe. I dunno. I can write anything except for non-fiction (blow my brains out). Length will depend on how many contributors, but I would say no more than 75-90k or so words for the whole thing, set the price at $2.99 and be done with it. I don't mind editing and proofreading the works of others. I'm not perfect, but another set of eyes is always a good thing. I checked out your brother's charity - pretty neat. I really like the idea of donating video games to hospitalized children and just generally providing the sick and disabled with fun poo poo to do. It's got my vote, if that means anything. MattDaddy fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Jun 18, 2011 |
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Jun 18, 2011 16:12
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FingerbangMisfire posted:That's too weird not to buy. *clicks button* Thank you for your purchase. I hope more people are like you. I believe I can carve a niche in the fantasy thriller market(if one even exists). So I'm promoting like mad. I've got my twitter, my facebook page my amazon author page and my official site blog. They are under the K23 Detectives name. There's not much to them yet, but It's a start. Next installment, about a megacorp with a dark past, entitled What Lies Within, should be out in a few weeks. Third book by the end of the summer. Roshi fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jun 18, 2011 |
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Jun 18, 2011 17:18
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Roshi posted:Thank you for your purchase. I hope more people are like you. The only other fantasy/dystopian thrillers I know of would be the Eberron novels or anything Shadowrun related (hahahahahaha you'll have no competition there), neither of which have been very recent.
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Jun 18, 2011 18:27
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Couple of reddit community notes: first, for anyone who's promoting stuff there, there is likely to be a delay, since all the amazon links get flagged as spam and me and FingerBang need to manually allow the links through. Not a big deal but that's why your stuff isn't visible immediately. Second, and this is cool, we've finally got enough content that everything isn't immediately in the "hot" tab, or front page. Roshi's promotion link was actually the first I've seen that went straight to "new" and skipped the front page. So definitely check the new tab from time to time starting now. I'm posting this here because all the most active people there are from this thread.
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Jun 18, 2011 19:18
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I'd be down with contributing a story if the proceeds went to charity.
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Jun 18, 2011 21:28
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Fenarisk posted:The only other fantasy/dystopian thrillers I know of would be the Eberron novels or anything Shadowrun related (hahahahahaha you'll have no competition there), neither of which have been very recent. Actually its more than cyberpunk, there's also steampunk(underground home of dwarfs and gnomes, setting of third book) and post apocalyptic(one of the four continents is a perma-war zone with another being stripped of life by the deity of chaos) but its easier to describe if I just stick to the main setting of the series. In other news You can now purchase this at smash words
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Jun 19, 2011 04:37
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I've got a zombie story that I've been publishing online for free for ages now - not through any official format, it's a journal story so I just stuck it up on LiveJournal, as was the style at the time. It's pushing 500,000 words and it was relatively popular in its day, maybe 20 or 30 regular commenters, but I got bored with it more than a year ago and put it on indefinite hiatus. Now I'm thinking Kindle publishing, if it could earn me even the measliest amount of cash, would be a good way to give me the drive to actually finish it. Thing is, I'm pretty sure I'd have to take it down from LJ to do so. And I have a list of email addresses of former dedicated readers whom I said I'd notify when I started writing it again, and who would naturally be the best place to start asking for word-of-mouth promotion, but who would probably not be pleased if the first thing I ever email them is "hey not only have I not finished it, I'm putting what has already been written behind a paywall." It's selling out, and selling out for a paltry sum. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.
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Jun 19, 2011 05:59
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Why take it down? Monster Island for example, was serialized the exact same way and is still available for free while the book is for sale.
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Jun 19, 2011 06:01
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Yeah, there's no reason to take it down. You own that sucker. Are you worried that you're trying to sell it while it's also available for free? (ie; why would anyone buy it when they could just go to LJ?)
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Jun 19, 2011 06:06
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