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Selling Art and Being Clear about Financial Intentions

I have started to collect my poems into chapbooks and sell them for $10 each. It is a strange thing to sell one's art. It is uncomfortable to ask friends, family members, and followers to buy your art. When so much content is free, it's easy to be picky about what we pay for. Certainly I, myself, am picky about which art I pay for. 

I appreciate artists who are transparent about their finances and their intentions, so I want to offer up my own honesties on those topics. Here it goes: 


Our Current Financial Situation


We are a polyamorous family of 8 living on one income. My husband is a computer programmer with a good salary. My partner is a college student working on a computer science degree. My main gig at the moment is being Teacher Mommy to our five kids. 


I worked outside the home before the pandemic. Most of my income at that time paid for childcare. Maybe I will work outside the home again in the future. Maybe I will continue to focus on parenting and art. We’ll see. 


We are able to live comfortably on my husband’s salary. We are even able to pay for enriching things like piano lessons for the kids. We are hopeful that my partner will be able to get a good-paying job when he graduates from college. 


Why am I Selling my Poems?


  1. I want to give more money away. 


We are currently able to give a few hundred dollars each month to local charities, artists we admire, reparations, and friends in need. I would like to be able to give a lot more. My hope is that we will always be able to live off of the guys’ incomes while we give at least half of my income away. 


  1. I want to build financial stability for myself. 


My husband is a cancer survivor. He is well now, but the reality of his mortality is ever-present. Depending solely on his income without ever trying to bring in any money on my own will never feel like a safe bet to me. 


  1. Medical bills could crush us again at any time. 


We are still paying for the debts incurred during my husband’s cancer treatment and my partner’s Lyme treatment. If we had to pay for another chronic illness before we’d paid those debts, it’d be a significant blow to our financial stability. I worry less about medical bills when I am bringing in a little extra cash. 


  1. I want to give more to my kids. 


We all want this, right? We want the world to feel wide open for our children. Ready to be explored. I want the kids to be able to do more than just music lessons. I want them to do martial arts and dance and absolutely anything and everything that excites them. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could make enough money to give thousands away, pay off our medical debts, and then shower my kids in enriching experiences? That’s a beautiful dream.  


  1. Quality content creation deserves compensation. 


If you dig an artist’s work, you should pay them for it. Regardless of their financial situation. I think my shit is good, and a lot of other people dig it, too. It’s not arrogant for artist’s to ask for compensation. It’s a reasonable incentive for them to keep producing.  


I’m so grateful to everyone who has ordered a chapbook from me so far. Every single order means more to me than I could express. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


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