Today’s the day Borders is supposed to go back to some of its biggest client publishers and explain to them again — in detail this time — how it’s going to not pay them. And the companies who heard them out the first time have told Borders they better have a real plan this time, and it better be good.

As Jeffrey Trachtenberg explains in a Wall Street Journal report, “Several publishers who met with Borders executives last week to discuss outstanding bills expressed dissatisfaction that the retailer failed to provide details on its refinancing efforts and didn’t offer a sound strategy for reversing recent losses and declining revenue.” As a result, he says, “Major publishers are divided on whether to support Borders … with some expressing doubt that they’ll agree to delay payments for books.”

A brief Publishers Weekly report by Jim Milliot makes clear what the Borders negotiators are up against: “Publishers, according to sources, will largely be represented by  lawyers and finance executives” at the meeting.

Borders hasn’t been responding to queries for comments on what it will be presenting at the big meeting, but one thing seems certain — despite reports (as per our Monday story) that some publishers thought bankruptcy was Borders’ best option, the company hasn’t even looked into the possibility, says the WSJ report: “As of last week, Borders didn’t have plans to bring aboard bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers, one of those people said, and it didn’t contemplate filing for bankruptcy at that time.”

Meanwhile, some clients aren’t waiting to hear Borders out a second time: A story at comics blog The Beat reports that Diamond Book Distributors — the biggie in the comic and graphic book biz — has stopped shipping books to Borders. “They have informed their clients that since Borders has suspended payments to them, DBD is suspending product shipments and has put the Borders account on hold,” says the report.