Experience new worlds
Both literal and metaphorical
Here at Blue Feathered Quill, we believe that everyone has a story to tell—and we want to see those stories get told. Whether you need someone to help edit or design your book, teach you publishing skills so you can do it yourself, or want to send us a manuscript and let us handle the rest—so you can focus on your storytelling—there’s something that we can do for you.
Read on to discover what kinds of stories our editors are looking to acquire, or visit our “Services” page to learn more about how we can help you remain independent.
(Currently open for submissions)
Who we are
Joshua Smyser
Josh is an author, teacher, and editor living in Colorado with his partner, two cats, and a dog. In 2024, he earned an MA in Publishing from WCU. He enjoys reading and writing fantasy, but dabbles in many other genres.
For submissions, he is specifically looking for novella and novel length projects within the following:
● Character-driven fantasy that is NOT European based. Diverse worldbuilding and mythology or mixed concepts and subgenres are welcome. And the found family trope is always a plus.
● Delightfully charming cozy fantasy, low-stakes fantasy, solarpunk, or anything like Delicious in Dungeon.
● High-concept science-fantasy, space opera, afrofuturism, indigenous futurism, or any other kind of similar subgenre. The lore can be expansive, but character development and themes should be front and center.
● Literary fiction or magical realism from diverse voices with well-developed themes. They should pack an emotional punch.
● Retellings of mythology. Extra points if it has an LGBTQ+ perspective.
● Unique, genre-bending works.
● Horror or thriller that is firmly rooted in speculative fiction. Especially cosmic horror and weird fiction.
● Short story collections in any of the above categories.
● Story-driven comics and manga in any of the above categories. But not concepts. All art for a first volume must be complete or nearly complete. We will expect to see proof that all of it was created by a human artist and not AI.
What he is absolutely not looking for:
● Themes that are pro-colonial or pro-imperialism.
● Main characters with no redeeming qualities. No misogynistic, homophobic, racist, or just plain “edgy” main characters. Not even if they have a redemption arc.
● Poetry (unless it falls under the “unique” bullet point above).
● Horror or thriller that is not firmly rooted in speculative fiction. Also, unimaginative takes on vampires and werewolves.
● Children’s books or middle-grade fiction. YA just barely makes the cut, but it’ll have to be convincing.
● Grimdark, splatterpunk, or anything military focused.
● Non-Fiction.
● Anything to do with AI.
A.B. Hale
A.B. has been an avid reader since he was young. Throughout secondary school and college, he helped his peers edit and refine their work. Now, having graduated with an MA in Publishing from Western Colorado University, his dream is to help as many people as possible refine their work—be it writing, design, or more technical aspects of publishing.
As a Publisher and Acquiring Editor, he is currently looking to acquire books in the Fantasy, Progression Fantasy, Romance and Romantasy, LitRPG, unique genre-bending works, and Contemporary Translated Fiction genres and most associated subgenres, with a focus on diverse casts and settings.
