Independently published paperbacks are printed easily and stocked rarely. The barrier between the two is a set of trade terms that has nothing to do with the book's quality.
Stores buy on returnable terms
American bookstores order stock they can send back unsold, a practice that dates to the Depression and has never been undone. The store carries inventory without carrying the risk.
An author selling non-returnable copies is asking a bookseller to accept a risk they do not accept from any major publisher, on a title with no sales history.
Print services now offer a returnable setting, but choosing it means the author absorbs the cost of copies that come back, sometimes in unsellable condition.
The discount decides whether stocking is possible
Retailers expect a substantial trade discount off the cover price, because that margin is what pays rent and staff. Anything much below it makes the sale uneconomic for them.
Print-on-demand unit costs are high compared with offset printing, so an author who sets a normal cover price often cannot fund a full trade discount and still earn anything.
Raising the price to make the math work then puts the paperback above comparable titles on the same table, which suppresses sales at the shelf.
Wholesalers are the practical route
Most stores order through a small number of wholesalers rather than from individual publishers, because one account, one invoice and one delivery is manageable and hundreds are not.
A book that is not listed with a wholesaler on standard terms is effectively invisible to a bookseller, even if it exists and is available online.
Getting listed is administrative rather than editorial, which is why experienced independent authors treat distribution setup as a separate project from writing and publishing.
Consignment covers the local case
Many independents will take copies on consignment from a local author, paying only for what sells and returning the rest. It is a personal arrangement, not a distribution channel.
It works well for authors who drive to the store, sign copies and bring an audience to an event, because the store's risk is limited to shelf space.
It does not scale beyond a region, since the author is doing the selling, and no store further away has a reason to take the same chance.
Events change the calculation entirely
A scheduled reading or signing gives a store a reason to order, because copies will sell in a known window to people who came for the author.
Authors who sell strongly in print usually build outward from those events, adding libraries, regional festivals and local media rather than pursuing national placement.
The result is a print business grounded in geography, which is a different shape from the online sales that support most independent publishing.