Writers of Hubski: I'm having trouble with the concept of receiving money for my art. Putting a price tag on a story of mine seems very impersonal and therefore deeply uncomfortable. If I could afford it, I'd rather just give all of my works away for free — but I wouldn't be able to, for the time I am to spend upon them. What do?

You laid out the options yourself:

1. Surrender your morals and accept money for your work.

2. Keep your morals and give your work away for free.

3. Compromise neither and keep your work as a private, purely personal endeavor.

I purposely chose the word work over art. Art is something that's appreciated for its aesthetic qualities. The aesthetic qualities that resonate with an individual vary greatly from person to person; one may see a piece of graffiti as ugly defacement, whilst another sees it as a beautiful piece of artistic expression. An old neighbor of mine who's a retired painter once asked me show him some music which I thought was genius. He hated it and essentially said that it was dreadful fetishism of mind that had no soul.

As such, I feel it is a bit imposing to say to someone that you have created some art. You of course believe in its artistic qualities by virtue of the fact that you made it (well, hopefully you do.) But once you put it out there, for free or for a price, it is no longer defined solely by your interpretation. In fact, how you think of your work will matter very little to some.

So I'd let go of the romantic notion that you're creating art and instead perceive it as work. And just like anyone else's work, the result of it is a product, to sell or to give away. If you do sell it, any money you're fortunate enough to make off of it allows you to keep working (i.e. doing what you love). If people want to elevate it to the realm of art then that's great.