Is a story sacred?

[brownjenkins]

Ultimately, I'd trust a publisher. The most incredible story ever written means very little if only a few hundred people read it. Publishers keep their jobs by getting people to read the stories they choose to publish, so I'd have to think that, unless you had some kind of name recognition to begin with, they wouldn't choose your story unless it's pretty darn good, and a few tweaks would be for the better.

I don't think it'd ever come to a major overhaul on a new, unknown writer, because they would not have choosen you unless they already thought your story was something a lot of people would enjoy.