Live Streaming | Twitch or YouTube?

This post will be from the perspective of a writing streamer. As such, what I consider to be pros and cons from both platforms will be based solely on my experiences and may not apply to you unless you are a writing streamer as well.

If you’re thinking about streaming your writing and wondering which platform would suit you best or you’re using one already and wondering if you should transition to the other, you may find this post interesting.

Nothing I write here should sway you one way or the other but simply serve as a guide towards what makes each work and not work so well in their own ways. At the end of the day, you should stream where you feel most comfortable.

Some Reasons Writers Stream:

• Accountability | Whether one person or a hundred are watching, it’s the idea of being on stream (or on camera if you aren’t shy) that can be that “gun to your head” you need to keep your butt in the seat and off social media long enough to get some real writing done. Let’s face it, we all need that sometimes and we can’t always get it from our personal surroundings.

• Community | Writing streamers on any platform have a way of finding each other and when we find you, we’ll show our support however we can by following/subscribing to your channel and being there when you stream. This can lead to joining larger discord or Facebook Group communities of fellow writers which can prove even more valuable than the work you are doing on stream. Such as beta reader or critique group opportunities.

• Tracking | If you’re a partner on Twitch then you can archive (I think) all of your streams. But if you stream on YouTube then they are all saved unless you delete them. But why would you do that? There is no better way to track how much real time you spent on a specific project than looking back at all the videos you have done.

• Ownership/IP | One thing many non-streamers will say whenever they explain why they’d never stream is fear of their work getting stolen. While the best way to get your work stolen is to simply never share it, in this instance, it can be a great way to prove your work belongs to you! And anyone dumb enough to steal something where you have an actual recording of yourself to write on is… well… dumb?

TWITCH

Twitch is predominantly a “gaming” platform. That doesn’t mean you won’t find a niche community/audience who visit Twitch frequently and aren’t gamers. Namely, the #twitchwriters community. It swells and fizzles depending on the time of year (NaNoWriMo brings all the writers out for a time…) but there are a few who stream pretty regularly. It’s a friendly bunch of folks and they each have their own unique way of running their stream as well as reasons.

To get a better understanding of what it’s like for a group of writing streamers on Twitch check out this QuaranCon Panel discussion hosted by yours truly.

Because Twitch is geared more for gamers than any other niche, it can be difficult to find readers there, if that is what you are looking for. But if you are looking for other writers and want to feel like you’re part of a community, then Twitch might be a great fit for you.

Some cautionary things to keep in mind:

• It’s likely there will be no one watching whenever you stream. Getting dozens or hundreds of viewers is reserved for those who have a large audience outside of Twitch and bring them to the platform. A great example of that would be catkavanaugh who was a YouTube personality first before she decided to take her Live streams to Twitch.

• If you’re looking to earn a living from Twitch, again, without an already built-in large audience who follows you this can be a struggling uphill battle. It can take you years to get there, and even then the amount of work you put in may seem to far outweigh whatever money you make.

• This is not the place for growth. At least not actionable growth that will amount to much in the end. But if you don’t care about growing your brand or email list or anything like that and just want a place to stream your writing? This is the place!

YOUTUBE

Not many people associate YouTube with Live streaming. The number of Live streamers on YouTube is probably very small but it does exist and I think in the last year it has been increasing. More and more people who traditionally pre-record their videos, edit them, and then upload them are now beginning to do the occasional Live streams and I think that is very telling to how the trend is going.

I recently decided to switch platforms from Twitch to YouTube in order to expand my brand and find some readers. And that is what can be done when using YouTube.

There is the #authortube and #creatortube communities. They each come with their own set of dramas in terms of who should be allowed to use and contribute to those communities, but ignoring that is easy enough.

I’ve met so many amazing people just from streaming on YouTube that I know for a fact I would never have met if I stayed on Twitch. The connections made and the other writing YouTubers I’ve watched have propelled me forward in my own writing career which was the switch I needed. Streaming on YouTube is almost like graduating from “just writing” to an empty room, to writing to a reading audience who is then going to subscribe to my newsletter, buy my work, etc. 

I can see and feel the difference already but that kind of move isn’t for everyone. If you really don’t want to expand your author brand portfolio by adding a YouTube channel and content that can lead to sales of your work once you’re ready to publish, then YouTube might not be for you. And that’s okay.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Twitch is for doing the work. Writing that vomit draft and then workshopping till you have a finished draft. While YouTube is for taking that finished project to the next level. Introduce it to readers. 

Tell them about the journey rather than showing them the journey.

Are you a streamer? If so, what platform do you use? Share your channel in the comments below.

If you don’t stream yourself writing, have you ever thought about doing it? What has held you back? Will you do it now? Why? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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