What is it about selling our art that makes us so happy?

About two weeks ago, my day was brightened considerably when I checked my email and learned I had sold one of my Halloween greeting cards.  The profit?  Definitely a sum worthy of that proverbial “sniffing at:” $0.12.

And yet I was in a great mood for the rest of the day.

I suppose it has something to do with the fact that a sale, no matter how small, shows that someone—most likely a complete stranger, no less—liked my work enough to spend time browsing it, and then to part with a bit of hard-earned cash to own it.

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Is it just me who becomes ecstatic over making less than a dollar on something that took multiple hours to create?

I don’t think so.

I should reiterate that this particular sale was on a website where I sell prints and cards, not originals, so modest profits are a given.  This sale was also on a note card, the most inexpensive of all the products--but even so, $0.12 seems like such a small return, doesn’t it?

Maybe not.  Because along with that $0.12 comes affirmation that my work is good, encouragement to keep producing, and hope that this mystery customer may return and enjoy another one of my pieces enough to want to own it.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent as little as $0.12 to obtain that kind of boost, so earning $0.12 along with that boost seems pretty wonderful, all things considered.