Before We Go Live: Navigating the Abusive World of Online Entertainment by Stephen Flavall (paperback)

Publishes 23 May 2023. Pre-order now and we’ll dispatch your copy upon publication.

‘Starting out, I made three dollars an hour; then I made four, then eight. After a year and a half of streaming full-time I was finally making minimum wage. A couple of years after that I was signed to a professional team and advertising products to my audience for $1,000 an hour.’

Streaming video games is now a billion-dollar industry. In 2022, Twitch alone has over 140 million active monthly users, with top players earning millions each year. But success breeds envy, and when big money’s being made, everyone wants a piece.

In Before We Go Live, professional streamer Stephen Flavall, aka ‘jorbs’, invites the reader behind the scenes of this new frontier.

From the boardrooms of LA to doctors’ offices in the Midwest, dealing with trolls and stalkers to mingling with crypto scammers and ruthless opportunists, Before We Go Live is both a true story about the dark realities of streaming and the tale of a deep and enduring friendship.

It’s about what happens when real life intersects with entertainment, and learning to act with kindness and humour in an online world full of prejudice and abuse.