Back in Business: Back to Publishing

Eleven days ago, I was still waiting.

My Amazon KDP account had gone through an identity verification process, with September 5, 2026, as the deadline. Only a few hours before the deadline, my friend Betty stepped in and helped me complete the verification.

And just like that, I was back in business.

For the past 11 days, I've been watching my KDP reports, and I'm encouraged to see my books now making at least one sale a day.

But the most important thing isn't the daily sale.

It's what I'm doing with my time now.

Before my KDP account was suspended, I had several manuscripts that I had already written but had not yet published. When I could no longer publish through KDP, I had to put those manuscripts aside.

Instead, I gave more of my time to my website.

I continued writing blog posts, improving articles, researching topics, working on SEO, and building johnshalom.com.

That work was not wasted.

But the books were still waiting.

Now that my KDP account is active again, I'm returning to those unfinished publishing projects.

• I'm editing the manuscripts.
• I'm improving the writing.
• I'm reviewing the structure.
• I'm preparing them for publication.
• In other words, I'm not starting from zero.
• I'm picking up where I had to stop.

That distinction matters.

Sometimes life doesn't destroy the work you've done. It simply forces you to put one part of the work on hold while you deal with something else.

The manuscripts didn't disappear.

The ideas didn't disappear.

The experience I gained while working on my website didn't disappear either.

Now I can bring all of that back together.

• I'm still writing blog posts.
• I'm still keeping an eye on my SAQA affidavit case.
• I'm still working on my other projects and responsibilities.

But I'm also writing to publish books again.

And that feels different.

There is something powerful about returning to work that was interrupted.

• You realize that you haven't actually lost everything.
• You may have lost time.
• You may have faced delays.
• You may have had to change direction.

But the work you already did can still become useful.

That's one reason I keep telling myself:

Don't stop building just because one door closes.

Build somewhere else.

Learn something else.

Improve something else.

Keep your ideas alive.

Then, when the door opens again, return to the work.

For me, the next stage is simple.

• I have manuscripts waiting.
• I have books to edit.
• I have books to publish.
• I have readers to reach.

And I have more ideas to turn into books.

• One manuscript at a time.
• One edit at a time.
• One publication at a time.
• One reader at a time.
• One sale at a time.

I'm back to publishing.

And this time, I'm not looking at the interruption as wasted time.

I'm looking at it as part of the journey that brought me back to the work.

If you have a project sitting unfinished because circumstances forced you to stop, don't assume it is dead.

Sometimes you simply need to return to it.

• Open the manuscript.
• Open the document.
• Open the idea.

Start again from where you stopped.

You may discover that the work was waiting for you all along.