Episode Details
Back to Episodes👋 The Privilege of Leaving Social Media — Being a Working Writer & Valuing Art with River Selby
Season 9
Episode 165
Published 2 months, 1 week ago
Description
“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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