My sister and I were recently discussing evolution. Not the Scopes trial monkey-t0-man type, but the kind that comes flying at you so fast, you sit there gaping like a fool instead of stepping neatly out of the way.
Point in fact: Conditions change, in relationships, the marketplace, careers.
Point in fact: You adapt or you die... or stagger zombie-like through what's left of your life, muttering crap about the publishing world's (or whatever's) unfairness and how you won't pander to whatever raging stupidity is currently in vogue.
If publishers want to stay in business, they have to make concessions to reality. If authors want to continue publishing, they have to do the same. This doesn't mean you're selling out, not if you can find some way to do so that's in line with your core values and your central vision for your work. The commercial authors I know who have been publishing for twenty or thirty years or more have all transformed themselves at some point or another. Those who refused became irrelevant and slipped into obscurity.
In terms of biology, change equals stress. But failure to change? That equals extinction.
You decide.
Comments
If change equals stress, it also equals growth. I've found that every step outside my comfort zone makes me realize that my comfort zone is expanding. So change=stress=growth=good!