Enjoy Your Freedom (To Write Whatever You Want) While Ye May

 
New authors in general, but new indie authors in particular, should take full advantage of the freedom that obscurity makes possible. When you first start out, and no one is paying you to write anything in particular, you can (and should) write whatever the hell strikes your fancy. Be it charnal horror or low fantasy or space opera or romantic action plumbing, if you can think of it, you should write it. And you should write it quick, before you start making money at one or the other genre.
 
Because once you start earning money with a form of writing or a particular genre or sub-genre, you've entered the Positive Feedback Loop.
 
No money coming in? Total creative freedom.
 
Money starts flowing? Totally different situation.
 
Once money gets involved, it colors everything. It especially colors your choice of next project.
 
Money is to writers (and artists of all types) what food pellets are to rats in a researcher's cage. The rats mill about until they figure out that hitting the lever in the back corner of the cage gives them a food pellet. Then there's a lot less milling about, and lots and lots of hitting the lever and eating the food.
 
You write something that makes money, and you've found yourself a lever you can hit, a button you can push. A button that gives you money. A button you're going to want to push as many times and as often as you can.
 
This isn't bad, necessarily. The button is neutral. You choosing to push the button isn't an evil act. Most of the time, it's probably the best thing to do. Especially when "best" is defined as "what will make me the most money for the time/work invested?"
 
What happens is that you will find yourself focusing on the button you know works. And since you know it works, it becomes very hard to try out other buttons. At least, not until you wear this one out. Even then, you'll keep coming back to that button.
 
That's how positive feedback works. You do something, you get positive feedback, so, hell yeah, you do it again. Presto! Learned behavior.
 
So, yeah, embrace your obscurity. You're probably stuck with it for a while, anyway. Might as well make the most of it. Take the opportunity and write about anything and everything. Explore and expand your creative reach. Try new viewpoints and storytelling techniques. Try everything.
 
It's much easier to be risky when there's nothing on the line but the time spent. Once money comes into the equation, the solutions all start looking the same.
 
-David