Market or Individual?

Assuming your write, once the first draft has been written down, the second draft has been revised, the third draft has been edited, you've fussed over the fourth draft, (and maybe the fifth, sixth, seventh, etc.) and finally you've come up with something that resembles a book, there's always that other can of worms:

Getting published.

I'm sure we've all dreamed about it at some point. (Come on now--don't tell me you haven't sat there and sighed longingly thinking about the fame and fortune. Or maybe just the fortune.) Imagined having that book on a shelf in Barnes & Noble (or even Wal-Mart). Pictured the fanmail. Considered the attention you'd get and the interviews you'd be doing.

Now, that all entails that your work appeals to the market; the only problem with that is, if you've got ideas, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, other than what the customer wants (or, at least what is going to be economically acceptable to a publisher, be it a large or small company), then your chances of getting published are slim or none.

And this is where the conflict comes in.

Do you, as a writer, prefer to mold and shape your writing to the demand? Or do you, as a writer, prefer to go your own way, despite the decreasing chances of being published?

Would you be willing to change your book's moral, plot, characters, so that it is more popular? Or are you satisfied with writing something that's entirely you and unchanged, but that doesn't appeal to enough people to be published?

I am in the latter camp. I would much prefer writing something that embodies what I really want to say and believe, and not something that is dictated by external forces. I would much rather stay anonymous and unpublished than get published and have something I'm not totally comfortable with, that isn't really me.


What about you? Do you think changing your writing is worth a greater chance of being published?

-----The Golden Eagle