‘Be frugal, keep writing’: Advice from ‘Second Chance Convenience Store’ author to aspiring writers
Novelist Kim Ho-yeon, left, speaks during a book talk held at Mapo Central Library in Seoul, Friday. Right is singer Zitten. Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong
For the many aspiring authors in Korea who dream of becoming bestselling writers, let alone Nobel laureates like novelist Han Kang, author Kim Ho-yeon offered a dose of realism.
“You need to learn how to live a frugal life,” said Kim, author of international bestseller “The Second Chance Convenience Store,” during a book talk at Mapo Central Library in Seoul on Friday. “Until you become well-known, you generally don’t earn much, so you have to learn to spend less.”
Since 2021, “The Second Chance Convenience Store” has sold more than 2 million copies in Korea and been translated into various languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese and Polish.
The story, a blend of humor and drama, follows Dokgo, a homeless man struggling with alcoholic dementia, and Yeom Young-sook, a convenience store owner who hires him as a part-timer. To Yeom’s surprise, he turns out to be a diligent worker who improves the store’s operations and sales.
Kim’s emphasis on frugality comes from experience.
His career as a novelist didn’t truly begin until 2013, when he was in his late 30s. Before that, he jumped between jobs, including screenwriting and working at a publishing company.
His novel “Mangwon-dong Brothers” won a literary award and allowed him to pursue writing full-time, but the next seven years felt like “a wilderness,” he recalled. He published several books before “The Second Chance Convenience Store,” but none sold well.
Kim said that when things are bleak, that’s when writers figure out whether writing is really their passion.
“You might not get any results for a while. Writers write anyway,” he said. “Do we become writers to win awards? To crank out bestsellers? No. Once I stopped worrying about that stuff and just kept writing, the good things eventually followed.”
To aspiring writers, he stressed the importance of recognizing whether they truly enjoy the craft.
“The real question is whether you actually like writing. And the only way to know is to write a lot. If you really love writing — if you get hooked on it — that’s what makes someone a real writer.”
The success of “The Second Chance Convenience Store” has taken him across Korea and overseas to meet readers, including a memorable recent trip to Poland.
“Polish readers like my book, and I went to Poland earlier this year for a book fair,” he said. “There, I met many readers, and one stood out to me. She told me she was a refugee from Ukraine. I didn’t know what to say.”
He added that he has sold the copyright to a Ukrainian publisher, so the book “may be published in Ukraine sometime in the future.”
The event was organized by the library as part of a campaign to encourage reading. Singer Zitten also participated, and the two shared stories about their creative processes and struggles.