New worlds await…
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)
Lacuna Lit Press
Lacuna Lit is an imprint of Blue Feathered Quill that focuses on works of translation, history, folklore and mythology, and language. With the same ethos of diversity, this imprint aims at spreading more historical stories and perspectives from cultures and languages across the world.
(Currently open for submissions)
Meet the Publishers
Joshua Smyser
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. Having graduated with a BA in Linguistics from MSU Denver and 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 Acquisition Editor of BFQ Publishing, 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. As Publisher of Lacuna Lit Press, he is seeking mythological or folk works of translation or works on the nature of language, culture, and story and song.
Josh is an author, teacher, and an award-nominated editor. In 2024, he earned an MA in Publishing from WCU. He holds two editing certifications from the Editorial Freelancers Association. He enjoys reading and writing fantasy but dabbles in many other genres.
For submissions, he will give priority attention to novella and novel length projects within the following categories:
● 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, or solarpunk.
● High-concept science-fantasy, space opera, afrofuturism, indigenous futurism, or any other kind of similar subgenre.
● Literary fiction or magical realism from diverse voices with well-developed themes.
● Retellings of mythology. Extra points if it has an LGBTQ+ perspective.
● Unique, genre-bending works.
● Short story collections in any of the above categories.
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).
● Children’s books or middle-grade fiction.
● Grimdark, splatterpunk, or anything military focused.
● Non-Fiction.
● Anything to do with AI.
A.B. Hale
