Via OWL, a.k.a. Dave Lull, you can read in cartoon form (PDF) some "frank feedback for publishers from librarians, booksellers, and readers", courtesy of Unshelved. Unshelved and BooksExpoAmerica (BEA) work to connect publishers with libraries; as part of that partnership, Unshelved asked its readers and members the question "what do you wish publishers knew?" The result is a 40-page booklet of quotations and comic strips, which you can download via the Unshelved blog. (It will also be emailed to all BEA members.)
You can follow and comment on Dave's links by joining the Librarian's Place room at FriendFreed.
In other breaking news, Peter Rosovsky has just written his 1,000th post at his excellent blog Detectives Beyond Borders. US-based blogs about crime fiction written by non-USA authors are pretty thin in the aether, and in my opinion Peter provides a uniquely valuable service in bringing news and reviews of all the excellent crime fiction written elsewhere in the world to the attention of US readers - as well as a constant diet of fiendish questions and entertaining challenges to readers. Sarah Weinman (herself Canadian), of course, is queen of the crime-fiction blogs in the USA, and does a fantastic job at rounding up, reviewing and bringing constant news of international, as well as indigenous, crime fiction at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind. However, Peter and Glenn Harper (International Noir Fiction) to my knowledge run the only US blogs dedicated to "the great beyond" - I welcome any contradictions in the comments to this post! And congratulations again, Peter, even though I could not rise to the challenge in your 1,000th post.
Thanks for the kind words. And thanks for posting the first ever comment at Detectives Beyond Borders.
This is more an addendum than a challenge, but Barbara Fister runs a U.S.-bsaed blog devoted to crime fiction from part of the great beyond: the Nordic countries.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 27 April 2009 at 07:08
Thanks, Peter - I know Barbara's excellent Scandinavian blog well, but had not connected it in my mind with being of US origin. Picking up on your comment, I wonder if the "Italian mysteries" website (sadly, no associated blog) is US or Italian (or other?).
Even so, I have yet to learn of another blog such as yours or Glenn's that is almost entirely dedicated to "beyond the borders".
Posted by: Maxine | 27 April 2009 at 11:08
I always had the idea that Italian Mysteries was based in Britain or North America because it took in Italian mysteries by non-Italian writers. OK, that's a flimsy basis in which to make a guess.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 28 April 2009 at 06:36