Widowed father’s publishing startup nears 10,000 readers in first year

Jesse Kuhn’s independent publishing company, Always Here, has sold more than 7,000 books and is on pace to reach 10,000 readers less than a year after launching its seven-book grief series. The company’s growth follows an early Amazon-only slump and now spans direct sales, educational content and reader communities.

Why it matters: - Always Here shows how a niche publishing business can grow by serving readers searching for highly specific grief support. - The company’s shift away from relying only on Amazon turned a stalled launch into a business on pace for 10,000 readers in its first year. - The model now extends beyond books into educational essays, free grief resources and community spaces for people navigating loss.

What happened: - Entrepreneur and widowed father Jesse Kuhn built Always Here after his wife died of cancer in 2022 while he was raising three young daughters. - Kuhn completed the seven-book Always Here grief companion series between May and December 2025. - The series launched on Amazon and initially generated little traction beyond friends and family. - Less than one year after finishing the series, the catalog has sold more than 7,000 books through Amazon and direct sales. - The company is averaging about 250 to 300 books a week and is on pace to reach 10,000 readers in under a year from completion.

The details: - The seven titles focus on relationship-specific grief, including the death of a spouse, the death of a dog, the death of a cat, disenfranchised grief, the end of a romantic relationship and widowed parenting. - The catalog includes Death of a Spouse, When a Dog Dies, When a Cat Dies, When a Pet Dies, Disenfranchised Grief, When a Love Ends and Widowed With Young Children. - Kuhn said Amazon, Google and Microsoft Bing ads consistently lost money in the early phase. - Kuhn said the issue was distribution, not the books themselves. - Kuhn used conversational AI as a research and implementation tool to teach himself Shopify, print-on-demand production, fulfillment automation, Meta advertising and independent publishing infrastructure. - Kuhn had previously spent more than two decades building technology companies, but publishing, ecommerce, print-on-demand manufacturing and direct-to-consumer fulfillment were new disciplines. - Always Here says it is founded by entrepreneur, Certified Grief Educator and widowed father Jesse Kuhn.

Between the lines: - The business’s early failure on Amazon appears to have been less about demand and more about discoverability and channel strategy. - The company’s growth suggests there is a viable audience for grief content organized around specific types of loss, not just broad bereavement advice. - Kuhn’s use of AI was practical and operational, not creative, which underscores how small businesses are using the technology to build systems faster. - The move from books to a broader platform indicates Always Here is trying to become a long-term support brand, not just a one-time publishing project.

What's next: - Medal winners from the 2026 Global Book Awards are scheduled to be announced later this month. - Four Always Here titles — Death of a Spouse, Disenfranchised Grief, When a Dog Dies and When a Cat Dies — are finalists this year. - Across two award cycles, every title Kuhn has entered has been recognized as a finalist. - Always Here is expected to keep expanding through Amazon, direct sales and its educational platform.

The bottom line: - A grief-focused publishing company built after personal loss is now proving that narrow audience targeting and direct distribution can turn a difficult launch into a fast-growing business.