👋 The Privilege of Leaving Social Media — Being a Working Writer & Valuing Art with River Selby

“My constant longing to be without social media is actually a longing to be in deeper connection with the world.”

River Selby was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. They worked as a wildland firefighter for seven years, and their debut memoir, Hotshot: A Life of Fire, was published in 2025 by Grove Atlantic.

Today, River joins me to talk about the realities of being an author from a working class, no-safety-net background — and how that has shaped their relationship to social media.

Together, we explore:

• The gifts (and perils) of refusing to niche down
• How to quit performing & projecting on social media
• What to do when compare & despair becomes unavoidable
• How financial insecurity might impact your social media options
• Why many authors have to hire publicists (but we couldn’t afford to)
• Ways social media impacts your financial well-being
• Why we have to stop commodifying books

 
 
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