Streaming Wars wins the 2025 Best Indie Book Award
Why this matters now, and why the story behind it still feels like an adventure
A few days ago I received notice that Streaming Wars has won the 2025 Best Indie Book Award in Nonfiction. Thousands of authors submit to BIBA every year, so this win is meaningful both for the work itself and for what it represents. I am grateful for the recognition and wanted to share what I think is most relevant for readers today.
When I started writing Streaming Wars, I wanted a book that captured the early chaos of streaming media from the inside. It was a time that felt improvised, slightly reckless, and full of possibility. The stakes were high, yet most of us were too busy building the future to fully understand that fact. Looking back, I realized that much of what defines our digital lives today began in that mix of experimentation, urgency, and problem solving. The book ended up being both a history lesson and a story that reads like an adventure across shifting platforms, rivalries, and unexpected breakthroughs.
The relevance today is simple. We are again at a turning point. Technology, media, artificial intelligence, and live digital experiences are colliding in unpredictable ways. Many of the questions people are asking now about control of infrastructure, access to audiences, creator rights, gatekeepers, and the cost of innovation all have roots in the earlier era. The choices companies made then still influence the strategies that shape sport, entertainment, news, and online communities now. Readers tell me that the book helps them make sense of the present because it shows how these patterns formed and where they might lead.
At the same time, Streaming Wars is meant to be a story. It follows the journey from broadcast.com through the rise of streaming, carried forward by people who believed that live content over the internet was possible even when few others did. There are long nights in improvised data centers, crashes minutes before major events, and improbable wins that kept the entire effort moving. Readers who enjoy narrative nonfiction, or who want a glimpse into how fast moving teams navigate uncertainty, often gravitate to that part of the book.
Winning this award encourages me to continue writing and to keep exploring how technology and human decision making intersect. The recognition is appreciated, but the real value is in connecting with readers who see their own questions reflected in these stories.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the book. I will share more soon, including updated covers with the award emblem and a few behind the scenes notes from the writing process.
If you have read Streaming Wars, I would love to hear what parts resonated with you. If you have not yet picked it up, I hope this gives you a sense of why it might be worth your time.
Recent Comments