The least PA could do...

[Bartholomew]

Since they already have a vast collection of author contact information, and they already send obnoxious amounts of e-mail, why not advertise an author's book to other authors?

Writers tend to be readers. PA would sell books without shifting their in-place economy, and then their customers would at least reach a limited audience.

[Queen of Swords]

It may be more economical to sell books in bulk to authors, who are more likely to overlook faults in their own books than those in books written by others.

Oh, and PA does advertise books to their authors. Provided the authors of those books have paid for it.

[Chris P]

The bottom of many of their emails say "PublishAmerica recommends "Title" by So-and-so, a story about [whatever]."

Their front page also has a "best seller" list along the side, and a "Book of the Week" section.

I don't know how they choose which books to promote, but I imagine it's based on author-made purchases in some way. I have never visited the PA site to browse for new titles nor have I been interested by a blurb at the end of the email. So "technically" they do, but it's so un-aggressive as to be invisible.

[DreamWeaver]

A while back they auctioned off the right to have ads for one's book in the back of other PA books. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to care what genre was advertised in what genre, which lead to some strange and troubling mismatches.

One assumes it was another money-maker for PA that didn't really benefit anyone else.

[merrihiatt]

I remember a while back (in early 2010 sometime), PA said if you ordered X number of books, they would add your book title to their e-mail signature line for a certain period of time. I don't remember the exact details, I just remember that you had to order a certain number of books to initiate the "advertising."