They actually DO put books by small published authors on the shelf IF the publisher makes the books returnable. That way they can order the books without a worry in the world. Put them out for the book signing or event and then box them back up (if they even unboxed them which is unlikely) and send them out free of charge (and signed as well if the author did that) back to the distributor the publisher uses. The small publisher will think they've accomplished some grand thing until they see the bill THEY have to pay because the books were returned AND to top that off the elusive "returned from the bookstore books" are never seen by the publisher again so they're out the print fee too.
The return policy on books was set up in the depression by Simon & Shuster to keep bookstores from going under. If you're a big publisher the policy can work for you. There is absolutely no way this policy will EVER work for small publishers. EVER! My current publisher actually makes most of their books returnable. I asked him specifically NOT to make mine returnable. I've been with two publishers who went under due to this insane policy that needs to be reworked for small publishers. I'll not take another publisher down. But yes, you can find small published authors in large bookstores and yes, they will humor you and let you do events so long as you make your books returnable because that way they aren't out anything but you sure as hell will be when you see what you have to pay for the books that are returned to your publisher -- minus the books most of the time so you've lost your printing fee too!
Yep. Things need to change but large bookstores don't care about that. Small publishers aren't the ones who made them what they are. Large publishers "own" them.
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