I know I'm double posting, but I wanted to share a story.
A week or so ago, a PA supporter came by and told me one of my books wasn't in her local bookstore, and there was a big to-do about where she could get it.
Now, my first publisher is very small, but honest. They work hard every day. A couple of days ago, I got an e-mail from the publicity person at that publisher. First of all, yes, they HAVE one, and her job is to work with bookstore chains and to find ways to promote the catalog of said small publisher.
There was a small glitch with my ISBN when my last book came out with that publisher, last year. The publisher was going through a transition, and it fell through the cracks. It was fixed within a day of it being noticed. But that is neither here nor there for this post.
Point being, that the publicity person needed an updated press kit for that title, because she was now resubmitting it to the CHAIN BOOKSTORE BUYERS. My press kit has changed, since I've had a new release with another publisher, and I was happy to comply. She will attach a new copy of the book, plus an updated marketing plan, and try to convince the big chains to stock the book. In their stores.
So while this PA supporter may cry to the hilltops that other people's books aren't on shelves, at least my one publisher is doing everything within their power to TRY. They don't rely on the author for their income, nor do they badger me with e-mails giving me 'deals' on my own books. They WANT to sell to the public at large.
PA doesn't go to all that effort - why should they when they can sell to their own authors with little to no work on their part?
(My other publisher has a distributor, so it's not really an issue there.)