Now I have a publisher again. Aside from having my deadlines back, I'm not noticing a difference in me. Frankly, I've always been an incredible human being. No, no, you say. Once you're published, you're always published.
Books go out of print.
If all your books go out of print, you're not published. You were published once, you probably will be again, but you are literally not published, not being issued for sale, at the moment. You're unpublished, which is why someone who's been unpublished for five years or more should be eligible for the Golden Heart, but that's another argument. Every book I've ever written is out of print. Come March, I'll be published again, but right now, nope.