“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
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