Re: RARA-AVIS: Canadian Noir

From: Willow Arune ( pangarun@telus.net)
Date: 16 Apr 2007


Well...

We wait until the Easter bunny comes...

Seriously, it is hard. Up here we have one independent bookstore, one chain, and an aisle in a grocery store for new books.

And the thrifts.

Surprisingly, the grocery store has the most of new Canadian writers if they are in mass market paperback. The independent has a very few from time to time, but does stock free book news. The chain in the mall has remainders. Book reviews? The "Vancouver Sun" has a very few, the local daily none. Trying to keep track of new Canadian writers is very difficult. Blunt was easy, being published in the UK, USA and Canada in different editions. Penny? Heard about her from a friend. Aubert? A surf on the net. Oh yes, the book programs on CBC Radio!

Simply put, accidentally.

If a new Robert Parker is hiding in Canada and writing and being published, chances are good I have never read him...

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Kerry J. Schooley
  To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 6:06 PM
  Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Canadian Noir

  So how do you hear about Canadian books, and how do you make your decisions?

  Inquiring government funded Canadian publishers want to know,
  Kerry

  At 12:51 PM 16/04/2007, you wrote:

> From time to time, I've ordered Canadian and British books that aren't
>available in U.S. stores, amazon, or B&N from
><http://www.whodunitcanada.com/.>http://www.whodunitcanada.com/.
>I've gotten good service and I see they list
>forthcoming titles through June. You have to know what you're looking for,
>though, because there isn't much description.
>Joy
>
>Kerry J. Schooley wrote:
> > Regarding the availability of Canadian books in the US, the big
> > titles and recognized authors get picked up by US publishers of
> > course. For the rest, those published by smaller presses, I think
> > distribution is often the problem. Maybe it's my subjective
> > experience, but I often hear of Canadian publishers changing their US
> > distributors, hoping each new one will be more effective than the
> > last. They have no money for advertising and promotion, of course,
> > and the little they get from government agencies is focused within
> > Canada. New publications are almost always available through Amazon,
> > however, even the US Amazon, and older stuff through ABE.
> >
> > I've heard many US crime fiction fans say they'd read Canuck stuff if
> > they could only find it. But I suspect that readers we find at
> > various Cons and on RA are atypically more likely to search out less
> > available material in the genres that interest them. But even then I
> > wonder what efforts folks will go to. I'm very lucky to have a local,
> > independent bookstore with a reputation for finding books in print.
> > He'll even order a few extra copies for his shelves, rather than pass
> > on extra costs for single-copy orders. I find the chains next to
> > useless for ordering books. They don't search beyond their own
> > computer stock lists, and only that far if the clerk happens to have
> > been around the store long enough to learn their own systems before
> > moving up to a job selling jeans at the GAP.
>
>

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