[MZ Column] The Mindset Behind Running a Newsletter

Published 22 Dec.2022 13:31(KST)

[Asia Economy] Before I knew it, I am running two newsletters. One is 'Sesang-ui Modeun Seojae' (All the Libraries in the World), which recommends one book every month, and the other is 'Sesang-ui Modeun Munhwa' (All the Cultures in the World), where several writers share stories about their respective fields. Although the number of newsletter subscribers is not large, it steadily grows to about 3,000 to 4,000 in total.

The newsletters themselves generate virtually no financial profit, but personally, I cherish this work deeply. First, introducing one book every month in 'Sesang-ui Modeun Seojae' feels like leaving my final sincere thoughts. Many things in the world move according to profit, but this newsletter remains a pure space for what I truly love. Therefore, I never accept sponsorships or promotions and only continue recommendations that come from my heart. Many aspects of my life involve earning money or other benefits, but I want to keep some areas of life free from that. Sometimes, I feel that this actually protects my life more.

The other newsletter, 'Sesang-ui Modeun Munhwa,' is operated as a platform freely used by various writers around me. It values the desire to continue writing more than profit generation, and is a newsletter voluntarily created with several writers. In fact, writers from diverse professions share stories about coffee, architecture, interpretation, tango, law, psychology, and more each time.

In other words, newsletters hold two major meanings for me. One is a means to preserve my pure feelings toward what I love. The other is a way to maintain a writing solidarity with people around me. These two things serve as a kind of remedy for a life focused solely on self-interest.

Pragmatism now covers society entirely. Topics like money-making, financial technology, calculable things, and economic freedom dominate attention. However, I believe that a life filled only with 'calculable profit' can actually make us unhappy. I believe there must be areas beyond calculation in life.

For example, on some weekend afternoons, I completely remove 'profit and calculation' from my mind. Then I hold my wife’s and child’s hands and just run to the park. I simply waste the day. Joking, laughing, and playing, I spend time outside of profit and calculation. From a strict pragmatic viewpoint, wasting the weekend like that is almost a loss. But when I lose like that, I feel truly alive.

Even amid the busy routine of commuting and working, I run two newsletters because I want to expand that mental space a little more. Remembering my literary youth, I want to keep the opportunity to honestly recommend at least one book I truly want to recommend. Not to create great profit, but just to maintain a space where people who love writing can gather and write together.

Of course, I do not want to say that pursuing profit is bad. I also consider pursuing self-interest in life very important. But I believe there must be aspects of life unrelated to such profit pursuit. These days, I am interested in creating such time and protecting my mind. For me, the spirit of running newsletters is connected to that truth of life.