Being "Booksy"

There is still a lot of debate surrounding the effect that the ebook has, both on our industry as well as on those who keep us being able to call ourselves an "industry": the readers. Some say it's a travesty, that writing can never be experienced the same way on a touchscreen as it can on a deckle-edged page. Some say otherwise (typically in large groups, conspicuously): that anything that gets more people reading is OK by them.

In all of this, though, I've always had the feeling that something is missing from the discussion. That, really, ebooks aren't a bad thing. That they're not infringing on your right to have a bookshelf full of first edition hardcovers with pages whose smell fills you with joy--but eventually you will have to pay more to fill that bookshelf, just as all those vinyl-philes do to keep their turntables turnin'.

The missing thing is reading. Love of the stories contained in books, rather than their packaging...when did we forget that binding is just a vehicle for getting you the story in a convenient, albeit well-designed way?

I read this (sort of pretentious and college-y feeling, unfortunately) article this morning, about the difference between loving to read and loving to fetish-ize reading (page sniffers!). The author says the following, among other very true things: "Booksing tends to show up as a gushy, shared celebration of the idea of books, rather than of the experience of reading any given one." You can read more here: http://bit.ly/GJZMzE

Thoughts?

How To Get A Job In Publishing

When I got out of college and decided I wanted to do that publishing stuff, I liked some weird fiction. Fiction that, however artistically valuable it's now been decided to be (cough...30 years post-publication), would never ever be mistaken for "commercially viable."

That's why I have some empathy for people like the ones detailed in this NYT article. They're young, more than likely brilliant, and they love writing. Maybe their own, definitely others'. And they can't get a job in publishing.

These job seekers, not to mention the NYT, sort of likes to talk a lot about the "publishing establishment" as this big bad elitist enclave of insular haters. And that's why these brilliant, writing-loving people are having trouble getting publishing jobs.

But you know what? That is a big fat load of stuff-that-also-fills-crocks. 

And I know, because I would have made prime member of one of those classics-and-poetry reading clubs where people complain about The Publishing Establishment. But I was lucky. I got a job in publishing (a luck-filled story for another time), and I learned real, real quick that publishing is about loving the classics--but about knowing today's market and today's publishing landscape. And did I mention I was lucky?

This is a business. As much as every single person I've ever met that works in publishing LOVES writing and LOVES authors and loves art, they are also people who do relentless market research and read two or three published books every week (almost).

Now, the people in this particular article might not even want to be a part of the publishing industry...shoot. They might not want to be a part of any establishment. They seem happy, which is great. But, for people that do want to be in publishing, the industry (which is also full of art, if not exclusively):

Put down the Sartre and read some Suzanne Collins. Read Malcolm Gladwell and the new political nonfiction. Find out what categories you love and read what's coming out now.

Honestly, you'll be leaps and bounds ahead of your peers when you walk into an internship interview.

Jennifer "The Brilliant" Laughran on "The Market"

Wondering if "there's a market" for what you're writing? You'll want to read Children's agent Jennifer Laughran's (aka Literaticat) post on the topic. It's here:

http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2010/06/theres-always-market-for-awesome.html

#AskAgent 2

OK, topic today will loosely be self-publishing, since that's what we've been talking about this week. But feel free to ask anything, even if it pertains to your own project, so long as it's not a personal question for me.

Questions close at 3pm today, Thursday, EST. I will answer by Friday night...I hope. (I'm travelling this Labor Day weekend)

Go for it!

Self-Publishing Mechanics

Most agents and editors agree that 5,000 is the minimum number of copies a self-published book has to sell in order to be considered a viable choice for a traditional publishing deal. This within 6 months or fewer, in order to be really eye-catching.

That is a lot of copies.  

It seems sort of unreasonable, really, if you don't know why a book has to sell that many. Honestly, one thousand copies, essentially sold by hand, while holding down a full-time job, should impress pretty much anyone. And in truth, it is impressive!

But you're not trying to impress a person. You're trying to impress a Profit and Loss Statement (a P&L: example here). This financial statement is used to project profits for a publishing house. In the case of debut writers, the "Revenue" section is guess work, based on how books like theirs have sold. In the case of non-debut writers, it's based on their actual past sales numbers. If the "Revenue" doesn't exceed expenses, book 2 (or 3 or whatever) is in trouble.

The P&L is one of the most common causes of a book getting turned down by a house, particularly in the case of authors who were first published by a small house or self-published. It's the P&L that agents have in mind when they say that you must have 5,000 copies sold in order to be considered for a traditional publishing deal. 

Queries of a different sort...

Yesterday was so much fun that I vote it become a Thursday institution on this blog. All those in favor? All those opposed? OK. It's settled.

Thanks so much for all the questions, everyone, and let's tune in next week for a discussion of self-/indie publishing and the relationship to traditional/agented publishing. Are they symbiotic? Mutually exclusive? The basics are covered in yesterday's comments section, so take a look there if you're wondering. But does anyone have any follow ups to yesterday's discussion of the matter? Let's make sure I answer them next week!!

Yay collaboration!

#AskAgent

Let's have question time. You can ask anything for the next two hours and I promise I'll answer it before midnight tomorrow (so end of the day Friday). Yes, questions about your projects are OK, but let's keep it general: word count for a particular category (or look here), character age, whether a character name is distracting. We're not editing (although maybe you'll find a good beta reader!), so don't post excerpts. Know also that this is public--don't post anything that you might not like the answer to (so no marriage proposals, please) or that might cross the "too personal" line!

Some of you will probably have awesome questions that are too complex to answer in the comments--for those, I'll do blog posts in the coming weeks.

Use good judgment, please, so that I want to do this again. :) 

Questions open now until 6:15 pm EST.

Online Author Marketing: Your Book Is Pubbing!

You're living the dream, man. An agent, a book deal...now your book is about to come out!

This is going to be AWESOME.

Publishers dedicate marketing and publicity staff to your book, with their biggest push focused around the launch. It's called "event marketing" in the industry.

What that means is that there's one big push, but no long term marketing strategy for the book...and this is where most authors (and some agents) get really grouchy. ("They're not doing anything anymore!")

But before we start Publisher bashing, as is so en vogue these days, consider that just as your book had some launch-time marketing (galleys printed, an ad somewhere, etc.) the next book on that publicist's list has to get the same attention. The publisher has to move on.

Which means that, at this stage, your own marketing efforts have to get more aggressive and your strategy more sophisticated. In post one, we talked about building the foundation of your online presence. On Tuesday, about focusing your online strategy. At this stage, you should focus on marrying your marketing foundation (blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) with specific marketing strategy.

This means getting creative. Your goal should be to keep your book(s) on people's minds in the online space, where attention spans are notoriously short.

This is not done by "selling" your book.

As you've no doubt heard before, broadcasting "BUY MY BOOK" is a quick way to get ignored. Create value for your audience--by being funny, like Maureen Johnson, finding interesting images on Flickr, or marrying your writing interests with something broader, as Sarah Fine does with psychology and YA literature.

Keep them coming back for your digital content and persona (separate from your book) and they'll get your book news (new releases, discounted ebooks, etc.) too. Organically piqued interest has a much greater chance of generating sales and word-of-mouth advertising.

Yes, this "online stuff" takes time. Or money (you can certainly pay some very talented professionals to do this for you). The online space has become a hugely important marketing and sales environment. If you choose to ignore that online space, you risk dooming your book to the "Launch and Fizzle" pattern so many books fall into.

Online Author Marketing: Agented!

You may have been an unagented writer before, just trying to build a basic online brand (see yesterday's post) but now...

YOU DID IT!

You landed an agent. Nice work! You've got a blog with a few followers and you've done some guest posts here and there for other bloggers who've even returned the favor. You may have figured out The Twitter. The two platforms, through cross-linking, support one another.

Things feel a lot more concrete than they did when you were just hammering away at different projects. You've got one to really focus on, with some in the wings (your agent hopes).

Now that you have something specific to promote, whether sold or unsold, you should reevaluate your online strategy and perhaps expand into new platforms. Hopefully your agent can help you. For instance:

• Are you writing nonfiction as an expert in some area? You could join Quora and start answering questions there--it's a great way to build platform.
• Facebook. This is more complicated because everyone thinks they know how to do The Facebook. Most people have a Facebook page of some sort, but few have one that's really effective in building an online brand, (see here for some details). Think of a strategy for Facebook: what are you promoting? A single title? A series? You as an author?
• Flickr. If you're an artist or illustrator, Flickr is a great place to showcase your work and build stories--supplemental, perhaps, to your book--in a new way.

There are many more ways to build an online brand; your agent can and should help you with this strategy, although you shouldn't expect them to do it for you. If you're too busy for social media, see here. Apply to all social media platforms.

A word on oversharing: you're going on submission now. It's a nervewracking experience for all involved and it can be really frustrating. Don't blog about it. Don't tweet it. Don't write angsty poetry about it and post it to your Tumblr. Don't.

So in the agented stage you get an online presence with a little more flair, guided by your agent. You've also got a more focused message, since you'll have a project to promote. Go get 'em!

Online Author Marketing: Pre-Agent

On Friday, I participated in an amazing interactive interview on Krista Van Dolzer's Mother. Write. (Repeat.) Blog. One of the questions asked, concerning author online marketing, was too complex to discuss in the comments section:

How can a writer get the most out of the Internet at each stage of the writing journey (pre-agent, post-agent, pre-book release, post-book release)?

Since we couldn't talk about it on Friday, it'll be the subject of a series on the blog this week.

First, we'll cover pre-agent online marketing and platform-building tactics.

Since your online presence is the foundation for your online marketing in the future, you should have a strategy before you just jump on Blogger. What brand are you trying to build? What other people are already talking about what you want to? How can you possibly collaborate with them? Unfortunately, blogging about "your writing process" or "your publishing journey" is not going to cut it if you really want to build a following--too many are already doing it. For tips on blog topics, check out this post here (and the surrounding posts).

I suggest a blog and a twitter account as a good online foundation for an aspiring writer.

You don't have to be super active on Twitter as soon as you sign up. Go ahead and find 20 or 30 people to follow--a mix of writers you admire, agents, editors, and non-publishing people--and just lurk. Listen to conversations, jump in where you feel like you have something to say. As you get more comfortable with the platform, you can tweet more. A fully active account should be tweeting no fewer than three times a day.

The hashtags #askagent and #yalitchat are examples of ways to find others interested in the things you're writing about: both agents/editors and beta writers. You can search those terms on Twitter and read the transcripts of the chats, which are always full of great info.

A blog is another good way to get started building an online presence. As you'll see as you get your feet wet with Twitter, the writerly blogosphere is incredibly interconnected. Bloggers guest post, start series together, and share thoughts on books they loved (And hated). But here more than anywhere else you have to worry about oversharing.

Many writers serialize their work on their blogs. I cannot encourage you strongly enough to avoid that. Authors nearly always list "getting an agent" as the reason they put "teasers" on their blogs. But there is already a mechanism for showing your work to agents: the query. Trust that process; it is highly unlikely that an agent will just stumble on your blog. They usually find it by clicking links in a query. So why put it on the blog?

If you choose to do so anyway you may put yourself breach of the warranties and indemnities clause of the publishing contract that you haven't even signed yet. I like Krista's strategy: she has a widget on her sidebar that lists a logline for her book. That's interesting without crossing any lines. Kathleen Ortiz has a great author website post here that lists website elements you should focus on.

You should try to post about twice a week on your blog--a link with a caption is still a post, but try to make a habit of producing real content--between 100 and 400 words.

So what do you think? Any questions? Tomorrow we'll talk about changes you should make once you're an agented writer.

Meredith in the ATL

The Atlantic, that is.

I'm honored to be featured with some much more impressive names than my own in an article about YA literature, growing up, and what "art" means anymore at TheAtlantic.com.

Agencies with Separate Publishing Divisions

I got word recently that yet another agency has decided to set up a side-project to handle "ePublishing." This division will not serve (1) clients self-publishing themselves (no commission taken) or (2) clients who bring the agency ready-to-upload files that the agency then uploads and monitors for royalties/earnings (15% commission taken). It's for (3)clients for whom the agency will handle all aspects of the epublishing.

Sounds alright, right? That's got to be a lot of work!

Except when you consider what actually goes in to converting and publishing a book online.

Unless the agency has undergone some MAJOR personnel changes and hired cover designers and converters, the work of converting and designing the cover of the ebook will be done by outside freelancers.

AKA the agency has a list of a couple of people they know who convert books and/or design covers and they send your book to them, get it back a couple weeks later, then proceed as with client-type (2).

The agency has probably done extensive work on these projects, even the ones that are self-published, and even tried to sell it in many cases. They've certainly earned their 15%. But I'd be hard to convince that the agency is earning more than that 15%.

You should be hard to convince, too.

Ask a lot of questions before signing up for anything that involves more than a standard commission. Who's doing the work? Who's paying them? Get the facts, and you may feel that an increased commission is justified...or you might not.

Patience is a virtue.

I've corresponded recently with several authors who had good projects. They weren't ready to go out, but they were getting there. After requesting fulls, these authors came back and told me they had already signed a contract of some sort with small presses, but that they were querying A) another project or B) the subrights or C) a continuation of the series under contract with the small press.

My reaction can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

Once a book has been published, whether by an indie press or online (both valid options!!) your road to a traditional publishing deal, should you later choose to see one, gets either a lot easier or a lot harder. Easier if you sell 10K+ copies of e- or p-book. Harder if you don't. Those sales numbers will follow you, and no, agents can't just leave out that it was previously published because that will violate the Warranties and Indemnities section of the contract you might sign with a publisher.

Further, the contracts that these authors signed would never have passed an agent's muster--one never defined which rights the publisher held, meaning that at any time they could veto anything else the book might become. It means royalty splits weren't defined. It means that you're at the pub's mercy. I couldn't take on a project tied up like that, even if it was a slam dunk.

The worst part, in one case, was that the author had been querying no time at all. Like 3 weeks or something. But she got the offer and just went ahead without an agent and, unfortunately, that impatience may have prevented her from getting a better deal.

If you don't want an agent, that's fine. But the truth is that most authors seem to say they don't want an agent, because that's in vogue, and act on that by signing with a publisher or self-pubbing. Then many decide they do want an agent. But if you've chosen to come to an agent in the middle, rather than at the beginning of your career, you're probably bringing baggage to the table.

My suspicion is that authors get that offer, and IT'S A REAL (if small!) PUBLISHER! and they just sign. Or they throw up their hands and THEY'RE GOING TO BE THE NEXT AMANDA HOCKING. And the decision may be a little rash. But by then, it's too late for an agent to get in the game.

If you get interest from a publisher, give the agents you've queried a chance to jump on you!! Tell them. Especially if it's only been a month. Because once you're published, you're published--even if it's poorly.

You Got Tha Power

I met tonight with an incredibly bubbly, bright, talented, idea-filled young woman to discuss a couple of projects, both book-related and non (hope to be able to tell you all about her very, very soon!!). At the end of our conversation, she asked "So, hypothetically, what happens if no one (as in publishers) wants this?"

*blink*

"Well, we do it ourselves," I answered.

The way that content is being produced and consumed is at such an exciting crossroads. This of course doesn't apply only to books--at all. But I actually think that's one of the most exciting parts. Written words, video, still images, drawings...the list goes on. It can all be integrated. The ways you can tell your story are literally limitless.

Don't be scared. Find professionals to collaborate with; blazing a new trail is always about finding the right people to do the right jobs. But don't be scared.

Anatomy of a Fiction Platform

You thought you'd dodged this bullet, didn't you? heh.

Oh, novelists, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news (although I'll remind you not to shoot the messenger), but you should take a look at your platform, just like those nonfiction writers.

Is platform in any way essential to fiction the way it is to non? NO. I'll be clear on that. Fiction is sold on the story and the writing. And the economic viability. :) Platform, for novelists, is a bonus. (Nonfiction writers, see yesterday's post stat).

So if a nonfiction "Platform" means convincing editors and agents 1. why you're the best person to write a book and 2. that there's a large audience already eager to read on the subject, what does platform mean for novelists? Answers would be 1. because I thought of it first and 2. Um...everyone wants this! Of course!

And those answers aren't helpful. Platform, for fiction writers, is more about demonstrating that there are people out there who like you. Who think you're funny, say. Or people who find you engaging. Check out Chuck Wendig and Maureen Johnson on Twitter for examples of people who do this really well. Copy them. (sort of serious)

Fiction queries are 100% focused on the novel: who's the main character, what's the big choice they're facing (See Query Shark if you're at all unclear on what a query should do). You don't have to mention your 2K Twitter or blog followers in your query.

But agents will Google you. They will find your 2K Twitter followers and your popular blog (in email queries, at the bottom where you write your contact info, you can include these links, too). They, and the editors to which they pitch your book, will be impressed that you've gone out there and started talking with what will become your audience.

Anatomy of a Non-Fiction Platform

Platform is central to an agent's and editor's decision to take on a nonfiction project. When you query with nonfiction, it's OK to use up to half of the letter (about 250 words) with discussion of your platform--whereas with fiction we expect about two sentences (20 words) of author background.

The most effective breakdown I've ever seen of nonfiction platform (here) is into its external and internal components. 1. Why you? and 2. Who already cares?

Question one is about you and your past. Your resume. Are you an expert? How long have you been involved in this area? Who has recognized or employed you because of your expertise? Have you taught? Where have you presented or been interviewed? Your local newspaper in Small Town, Indiana is, unfortunately, not a viable element of this section of your self-pitch. The answers to this question have to be immediately recognizable to the reader.

Also evaluated with question 1: Can you write? Your pitch letter (which, as I've said, should include an overview of your platform) has to be compelling. You should convince me you're answering a question I have--even if I didn't know I had it before reading your pitch.

Question two: Who already cares? is about audience. The one you've already got slathering at your heels. It's not enough to assure the agent that you will gain x number of Twitter followers or implement such-and-such plan. Anything that refers to the future, unless it's something you've already been slated to do (I will appear on Good Morning America on this date!!), it doesn't constitute platform. It's too speculative.

If you speak to 50,000 people a year in x number of invited speaking engagements, that's platform. If you have a mailing list of 2,000 (the more the merrier, of course). If your radio show has weekly listeners in the top 5 markets--or, if you're on internet radio, the metrics will be different (by the way, Internet radio is getting big. You should look into it.). Where have your articles been published?

The bottom line: it's numbers.

Twitter is an insanely useful tool for building an audience and connecting with people who will publish or feature you. More than it is a social network, as originally billed, Twitter is an information amplifier. You tweet, someone retweets, an just because of these two actions your link or tidbit could be, theoretically, reaching thousands. Becoming a follower is a low-investment action. All you have to do is be useful once to get someone to follow.

So if you're an expert in an area, start Tweeting about it first. Link to already-established blogs. If you've driven enough traffic to them, perhaps you could apply for a guest-post spot on grounds that you'll bring readers--that you already have done so.

Bit.ly is a link shortener that also counts clicks. So you can see, out of the total number of clicks a link got throughout the whole internet, how many came from you. It can be compelling data. It could get you published. It could get you platform.

How have you gone about starting a platform? Anyone succeeded in gaining the numerical swag to start querying a nonfiction project?

Packaging >> Positioning

We're getting fancy, guys. We have jargon. Packaging. Positioning.

On Monday, we talked about covers and the effect on readers. Namely, whether readers pick up the book. Covers should communicate content and tone--no easy feat, to be sure.

But picking up the book is not a won battle, friends. We want readers to buy that sucker. Sometimes, for the casual book buyer, an appealing cover induces a capitalistic coma that draws reader, book in hand, to the cash register. Zap.

More often building awareness of a book, branding and positioning it in the marketplace, is the effort that wins the battle.

Positioning means the image/collection of images that pops up in a consumer's mind when your product gets mentioned. So, when you hear a title like GHOST COUNTRY, you think thriller, serious, fast-paced (as opposed to, say, unicorns, happy, and paaarties). Positioning also means how consumers compare your product to others in its category. So how are Patrick Lee's thrillers different than, say, the Jason Bourne books. It's about how the book gets packaged (cover, typeface, copy, etc.). But it's also about how it gets talked about.

Like a cover, the buzz surrounding a book should reflect tone and content in interesting ways. As with any product, marketing (which is a large part of brand-building and positioning) has to break through the noise--and books, regardless of genre, is a noisy market. Especially for you self-pubbers!!

Publishers and authors are getting really creative with the ways they define books in readers minds. Characters are getting Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. Books have trailers like movies.

The Internet means marketing is as flexible as its ever been. You can bring characters to life to talk directly to your audience. If your tone is sassy-with-a-touch-of-ninja-dash-of-literary, you can do that. We're not restricted by a medium anymore, as they were in MadMen (on Netflix, btw!!).

It's sort of cool.

Why Isn't This Book Selling?

Folio had a great article about a month ago about "turkeys." That is, magazines that underperform. The article discusses how covers do or do not communicate the content and by so doing compel a reader to pick up the magazine.

The same applies to books. Really, to any product. Packaging is hugely important. If you've made a great product but can't get it off the shelves into consumers' hands, what's the point?

My tastes skew literary. I like quirk, which tends not to get too much screen time in commercial fiction, where formulas are more adhered to. I like commercial fiction, too, and am in fact of some unpopular opinions about how literary and commercial should meld. But that's another post. Covers like this appeal to me:

But, you say, that's...weird. It doesn't tell me anything about what the book's about. True. But, first of all, this is a story collection, so it's not "about" anything. Second, this is effing quirk, people. This is going for it. The cover promises me quirk, which I like to read. As a lover of quirk, you couldn't beat me off this book with a stick.

(Note: the three following books are Janet's)

Gary Corby's THE PERICLES COMMISSION

Not only does this cover have great colors and composition, it immediately tells you the two most important things about the book: it's a mystery (note the shifty eyes) and it's set in ancient Athens. No, put that stick away. It's not going to work.

Sean Ferrell's NUMB:

Who doesn't love a white cover? This book is about a man with amnesia and how he rediscovers himself. And look. This guy on the cover has no head. Coincidence? I think not. This cover promises the unexpected. The book 100% delivers.

Evan Mandery's FIRST CONTACT

This is quite possibly the funniest book ever written. The cover tells you this, and also hints at the circular and slightly chaotic story inside. This is a book for lovers of Vonnegut, and I think the cover screams "DID YOU LOVE HARRISON BERGERON?!"

Unlike products like clothing, where the sum total of the piece can be readily displayed (Those shorts are just shorts. There's no deeper message.), books require an investment. You have to take the time to read some of the book to appreciate what's written. The only way to get someone to make that investment is to convince them that the content will interest them. The only way to do that is with a kickass cover.

Self Publishing: The Stigma

We know it's true because we all do it. Some poor soul mentions their book, forthcoming from PublishAmerica in fall 2011, and we all whip out the stank eye.

It's not an entirely unfounded bias, either. There're a lot of books online. Some of them are bound to be crap. But, as a couple of people pointed out in the comments last week, there's crap coming out of traditional publishing, too. Even some books lauded as "bestsellers," that make millions, have their detractors.

Self-publishing's been stigmatized because it seems to allow anyone to vomit something up there and drag us all down with 'em. There's no oversight, no gatekeeping. It's interesting, because complaints of unfair or erratic gatekeeping are perhaps the most common of those leveled against traditional publishing. (eyebrow: raised)

Self-publishing is coming into its own as a viable option for serious writers, and traditional publishing is actually leading that charge, primarily from the agenting side. Agents are a great legitimizing force for self-published authors because, in general, recognized experts raise the perceived value of a product. Raising the perceived value = eliminating stigma.

Self- and traditional publishing are not foes, and they're not either/or. That's why traditional publishing must-haves, like agents, aren't going anywhere. It's why, despite all predictions 5 years ago, publishing hasn't gone bankrupt and stopped printing physical books. It's ironic, but the most important people in self-publishing's journey to validity are traditional publishing professionals.

Self Publishing

There's a post from Editorial Anonymous from last week about whether you need an agent. I think it makes some great points. And by that I mean it makes one point: Yes, friend, you need an agent.

The one exception: "if you are an intrepid explorer yourself, of a patient and workmanlike nature; if you enjoy the research involved in plotting your own path through publishing, and are flexible about learning more as you go along, then you may not need an agent."

May not. Even if you are actually all of those things (and independently wealthy to boot--this research takes time, which you probably don't have between writing a book and, um, working.) you still only get a maybe on not needing an agent. Not wanting. Needing an agent.

This is probably frustrating to you. You say "But why should I be beholden to these keepers of the gilt publishing gates?!" I hear ya.

But the truth is that "booby-trapped and pathless jungles" doesn't even begin to describe publishing. Self-publishing is just as fraught with peril, if not more so (yes, I can defend this claim).

For our next series, I think it's useful to talk about agents and their role in the self-publishing world. I hope you guys will comment with some of your more pressing concerns on the matter.