Monetizing Email Lists

I'm getting tons of emails on a regular basis from people whose lists I have apparently subscribed too but I honestly can't even really remember when it was that I signed up for the stuff or why. Obviously I entered my information into an e-mail capture while I was looking up some kind of information on internet marketing or on SEO. Anyways, I'm assuming that the e-mails I'm getting are also going out to a huge list of people, and I'm assuming that there are significant profits available to someone who is marketing in this way, but I don't understand who is actually buying this stuff?

I usually get 1 or 2 relationship e-mails, a weekly e-mail with a bunch of links to resources, some of which I have clicked and found interesting. I actually think that this method is really good because when you send someone useful or interesting links that they're interested in on a regular basis, you're going to do a good job of showing the value of staying in the e-mail list, so that's a potentially good tip.

When the offers show up in my inbox, there's always a lot of urgency behind them. Like I'm made to believe that I only have 48 hours to get something at the price it's being promised at or else I'll have to pay more later or it will become unavailable. This kind of makes sense, like if a lot of people have access to a product or method it can lose value, but if I'm selling a method, I just want to make money, right? The fact that the links are good makes me think the products might be good too, but I know I'm being marketed to so I can't justify a purchase.

Should I just start using these methods myself? Is this going to work for me too?