No matter how justified your methods may be, if you become an author to whom everyone at the publishing house dreads speaking, you've lost the game. They still have their jobs, and they see no reason to have you in their face. Trade book distribution is a mysterious process, even for people in the business. Most bookstore sales are dominated by the large national and regional chains, such as Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Barnes and Noble, and Crown. No shopping mall is complete without at least one of these stores.
Publishers always have the chain stores in mind when they determine what to publish.
Thankfully, there are also a few thousand independently owned shops throughout the country. Thousands of new titles are published each year, and these books are added to the seemingly infinite number that are already in print. Considering the limitations of the existing retail channels, it should be no surprise that only a small fraction of all these books achieves a significant and enduring bookstore presence. The rest of the store will generally provide a liberal mix of titles, organized by subject area. This is where the backlisted titles try to stake their claims.