SPSFC 5 Semifinalists Announced!
I am happy to announce that the Self Published Science Fiction Competition has announced the semifinalists for SPSFC 5. This is the competition where Accidental Intelligence was a finalist in last year’s event, and where I’m a judge for this year’s. The judging will definitely be harder as we go through these ten books. Each […]
Moving to Spokane: Insights on Packing and Purging
I’m both happy and sad to let you know I’m moving—that is unless you’ve subscribed to my newsletter*, where I’ve already mentioned this bit of news. I’m happy because I’ve needed to make a change for a long time, and sad because I love California. But, I’m moving up to Spokane, and am writing this […]
17 Hours to Go on Neosynthesis Kickstarter!
There’s just seventeen hours to go (as of this writing) on the Kickstarter for Neosynthesis, the SciFi anthology in which I have two short stories. We hit our goal, and a huge thanks to everyone who supported it already! We have a stretch goal, and if we hit it, we’ll be making an audiobook. So, […]
Accidental Intelligence Named SPSFC 4 Finalist, and Bundle News
I am beyond thrilled my debut novel—Accidental Intelligence—is now an SPSFC 4 Finalist! That’s the Self Published Science Fiction Competition 4. Here’s the announcement naming the six Finalists. I’m up against some stiff competition, with a wide range of SciFi titles. They’ll name the winner of the SPSFC 4 in two months. Wish me luck! […]
Accidental Intelligence and King Liam Receive 5-Star Reviews from Literary Titan
I have officially received two 5-star reviews from Literary Titan, one for Accidental Intelligence and one for King Liam, First of His Name! 5-Star Review for Accidental Intelligence Firstly, here’s a snippet from Literary Titan’s 5-star review of Accidental Intelligence: “Bryan Chaffin’s Accidental Intelligence offers a thrilling journey into a cyberpunk world where the line between humanity […]
My Books Are on Kobo and Kobo Plus—So What’s the Deal?
Kobo and Kobo Plus As noted in my piece about joining the Thousand Book Club™, I put both of my books on Kobo and Kobo Plus. It turns out Kobo has many users, and they tend to be kind of rabid fans of the platform. Who knew? I do—now—and I regret not having embraced Kobo […]
Reader Reviews Have an Outsized Impact for Authors
Heya folks, Bryan here. I’m writing to let you know that your reader reviews have an outsized impact on any author’s success. If you like a book, there is no greater thing you can do to encourage that author to write more books than to leave a review wherever you bought it. For instance, more […]
I’ve Sold 1,000 Books!
I am delighted to announce that I’ve joined the Thousand Book Club™—1,009 sold to be precise! June has been a fantastic month for me as an author, thanks to the release of my free short story, King Liam, First of His Name, and a paid advertising campaign on BookBub. Chirp, Audible, and More May and […]
King Liam, First of His Name!
I am delighted to announce that King Liam, First of His Name is available for preorder. This is a FREE short story set in the universe of Accidental Intelligence. It’s available for preorder on Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and Google Play, and will be available on Kobo and Apple Books on June 4th. […]
Matthew Wayne Selznick Interviews Bryan Chaffin
Back in January, Matthew Wayne Selznick interviewed Bryan Chaffin (me!) for his podcast Sonitotum. Better yet, it just went up! Matthew is a very good interviewer, and he’s definitely a pro sound guy. So, you should check out my interview and then subscribe to his podcast! We cover The Context Machine, querying Accidental Intelligence, my […]
Bryan Chaffin Interview by Adam Gaffen
I was interviewed by author Adam Gaffen! Yay me! The interview covers a wide range of topics: from my novel Accidental Intelligence, to my next release (see King Liam below), to TV, to coffee, to writing tips, and my all-important hot take on who shot first, Han or Greedo. Mr. Gaffen has a regular series […]
Irishman Rohan O’Duill Reads First Chapter of Accidental Intelligence
Have you heard of Rohan O’Duill? I found him on Threads, and he’s the Irish author of the SciFi book Cold Rising and some short stories in Beyond Human. He also has a podcast called First Chapters where he reads the first chapters of other people’s books! With his Irish accent! And today he read […]
Sales of Accidental Intelligence Hits 200
Sales of Accidental Intelligence hit 200 units sold, making it time to give you an update on what I’m seeing. As a heads up, this post is aimed mostly at other writers—especially indie writers—though anyone is welcome to follow along. If you’ve bought my book, please consider leaving a review. I’ve gotten many amazing reviews, […]
2023 Sales for Accidental Intelligence: Author Wrap Up
2023 is winding down as I type this. It’s been a crazy year in so many ways, but I’m thrilled to announce that 2023 sales for Accidental Intelligence hit 160 units. I call that a win, a huge win! As a self-published, debut author, that’s a very strong showing for the first six weeks. I’ve […]
100+ Sales of Accidental Intelligence in Two Weeks
It’s been two weeks and a couple of days since my book, Accidental Intelligence, shipped. I’ve crossed the 100-units sold mark, and I wanted to offer a breakdown on where those sales have come from. This is particularly for those authors weighing whether or not to lock themselves into Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited. Spoiler: I don’t […]
What Inspired Accidental Intelligence
I’ve been asked what inspired Accidental Intelligence, and I wanted to talk about it in a blog post. I’ve also been asked about why I wrote it, so let’s tackle both of those things. This story started with a short I wrote on a writing date. The short was about a military unit sent to […]
Some Marketing Data for Indie Authors
I’ve been running Facebook and Amazon ads for my book and wanted to offer some marketing data for indie authors. Let’s start with Facebook ads. My caveats include that this is preliminary data based on a week of experimenting. That’s not a lot, but I’m hoping it will be helpful to others. My Facebook ads […]
Ebooks, Soft Backs, and Hardbacks for Accidental Intelligence
I have ebooks of Accidental Intelligence, and now soft backs and hardbacks available for preorder. Ebooks are available on Apple Books, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble Nook. Soft backs are available at Amazon and B&N, while I also got a hard back with dust jacket on B&N. On the one hand, it was a […]
The Context Machine and Other Updates
Looks like a couple of things have happened since my last post. There was the ongoing pandemic. An insurrection. A massive spike in homophobia and transphobia. Book banning (which always works out well). Putin’s bullshit. I moved back to the possibly haunted townhome. My point is that it’s been a while since I posted, and […]
Mason Truman Is on Twitter, and So Is GeekTells
Check this out. Mason Truman is on Twitter. @MasonTrumanPI. Yeah, I know. He’s the main character of my first novel, and sure, he was born…err…will be born in 2087, but there he is tweeting up a steady diet of algae-strained coffee, eagles, and life in the Dawdle. Bleh. AIs, combines, and writers. Literally the […]
Whispers 4
The bathroom is steamy, the mirrors fogged. I’m drying off when I see it. A large X on the medicine cabinet mirror. A loose circle surrounds it. Hastily scrawled, like it was spray painted. It wasn’t there yesterday. Or the day before. Or a month ago. Or ever. No one else uses my bathroom. No […]
Good Writing and Bad
It’s a funny thing about writing. It turns out it’s hard. In my efforts to become a published novelist, I’ve had many opportunities to learn some things about writing fiction. One of my first lessons, for instance, was that a Venn diagram of writing skills for journalists and writing skills for fiction has surprisingly little […]
Whispers 3
It’s Sunday. A day for sleeping late. A day for not worrying about getting up. Or meetings. A day for no alarms save the morning sun peeking past my shades. Sunday is the kind of day night owls with day jobs love. At least this night owl. It’s one of two days when I get […]
Prologue Is Past
I stripped the prologue from my novel recently. I had to do it, and that makes me tense. Let me explain. No, first, some catchup: I took time off from my novel last year (hence the lack of updates here). I needed to distance myself from it so I could see it with fresh(er) eyes. […]
Speaking of Clouds, How about Some Words?
I won’t bother telling you that I’ve finished Accidental Intelligence again. We’ve all been down that path together too many times. I will tell you, however, that I started querying once more. It’s a rough time of year to query because many agents stop taking submissions this quarter, but we’ll see what we see. I have what […]