Writing for yoursef vs. writing for your audience

I recently read an article about a woman who was told she couldn't write a character the way she wanted because it wouldn't sell books. This is part of the reason I decided to self-published. I can't imagine being told to change a character that I feel strongly about just because people might not read it. I know you have to write for your audience, but unless your character is offensive you should be able to write the way you imagined them. There's a character in the book I'm about to release, his name is Miller and he talks differently than any of the other characters, but he adds to the story. He owns a bar for werewolves (and sometimes vampires) to hang out. He's a werewolf himself, and I can't imagine changing him. A lot of times I find myself writing about characters I can relate to, and I'm sure it's the same with many other authors. I have written about characters that are different than me, but to make them real you have to make your audience releate to them. Since I'm self-publishing I haven't thought about my audience too much. That's probably because I don't have an audience yet. I'm not out there selling books yet. I don't know how people are going to react to my characters yet. I haven't been thinking about the marketing part of publishing as much as I should. Will people still be interested in reading what I write if they know it was written my way and not a publisher's? I don't think publishers bad, they offer great things, like editors and simple suggestions that could make your story better. I just don't like the idea of someone being able to tell me that I have to change an entire character. I don't understand why anyone would have to change a character if it doesn't make the story any different.