Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen

This spirited debut report from journalist Grayson traces the history of livestreaming platform Twitch alongside profiles of its content creators. He recounts how enterprising recent college graduate Justin Kan founded the company that would become Twitch in 2007 as a website to livestream his life, and how Amazon’s 2014 acquisition of the company pressured employees to prioritize profit over creators’ needs. The creator profiles attest to the platform’s best and worst qualities. For instance, Grayson illustrates the site’s potential for creating online communities by describing how Tanya DePass’s calls for more diverse representation in video games brought together inclusivity-minded gamers on her channel. On the other hand, Grayson notes that incentives to boost engagement with incendiary content led political commentator Clara Sorrenti to start esoteric disputes with increasingly obscure fellow streamers. Grayson captures the multitudes contained within Twitch while offering a captivating window into content creators’ lives, including the dispiriting frequency of “swatting” (making false police reports so that a SWAT team will raid a target’s home during a livestream) and the fleeting nature of success (Kaitlyn Siragusa uses the millions she makes from her risqué antics to invest in traditional businesses, anticipating that her following could evaporate at any moment). Readers will want to tune in to this. Agent: William LoTurco, LoTurco Literary. (Feb.)