This brand spankin' new publisher got on my radar because Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware posted about them on Twitter. Apparently they offered a contract to a writer, then withdrew it because they are overcommitted. A pissing contest has ensued.
The press does not yet appear to have a website. Their published link to the website leads to a 404 error page. They do, however, have a Query Manager submission page (they are, unsurprisingly, closed to queries at the moment), a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Their Facebook page has only been extant since July; their Twitter account shows a February 2012 join date.
Their Twitter account (which seems to be the most active of their social media sites) states that they are "a queer owned, groundbreaking indie publisher." According to their Facebook page, the press was founded by Elle Mackenzie and Nick Starling. When I Googled the duo, the first thing that popped up was a failed 2021 GoFundMe started by Mackenzie for Starling, because he could not afford top surgery following a recent move to Arizona, where Mackenzie resides. The GFM page states that Mackenzie and Starling are partners and co-authors. I searched Amazon and found a single short story by Mackenzie, published in 2020, which appears to be self-published (the author is also credited with the cover design). I couldn't find any books/stories by Nick Starling, although apparently he self-published successfully under a different name. Mackenzie's Amazon author bio states that she is studying psychology at ASU (I assume this is Arizona State University) - or at least, she was when the bio was written two years ago. Neither Starling nor Mackenzie have a LinkedIn listing, so there's no way of checking to see if either has a background or experience in trade publishing. (ETA: based on their bios, which I found in the complaining author's Twitter feed, neither principal has trade publishing experience or education.)
Since both principals appear to reside in Arizona, and since the Twitter account also shows an Arizona base, I search the Arizona corporate records for Sage & Sparrow Publishing. I could not find a listing, which either means they're incorporated elsewhere, or not incorporated at all.
Regardless, they appear to have signed a number of hopeful authors. All I can say is that I hope their contracts contain a solid rights reversion clause.
The press does not yet appear to have a website. Their published link to the website leads to a 404 error page. They do, however, have a Query Manager submission page (they are, unsurprisingly, closed to queries at the moment), a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Their Facebook page has only been extant since July; their Twitter account shows a February 2012 join date.
Their Twitter account (which seems to be the most active of their social media sites) states that they are "a queer owned, groundbreaking indie publisher." According to their Facebook page, the press was founded by Elle Mackenzie and Nick Starling. When I Googled the duo, the first thing that popped up was a failed 2021 GoFundMe started by Mackenzie for Starling, because he could not afford top surgery following a recent move to Arizona, where Mackenzie resides. The GFM page states that Mackenzie and Starling are partners and co-authors. I searched Amazon and found a single short story by Mackenzie, published in 2020, which appears to be self-published (the author is also credited with the cover design). I couldn't find any books/stories by Nick Starling, although apparently he self-published successfully under a different name. Mackenzie's Amazon author bio states that she is studying psychology at ASU (I assume this is Arizona State University) - or at least, she was when the bio was written two years ago. Neither Starling nor Mackenzie have a LinkedIn listing, so there's no way of checking to see if either has a background or experience in trade publishing. (ETA: based on their bios, which I found in the complaining author's Twitter feed, neither principal has trade publishing experience or education.)
Since both principals appear to reside in Arizona, and since the Twitter account also shows an Arizona base, I search the Arizona corporate records for Sage & Sparrow Publishing. I could not find a listing, which either means they're incorporated elsewhere, or not incorporated at all.
Regardless, they appear to have signed a number of hopeful authors. All I can say is that I hope their contracts contain a solid rights reversion clause.
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thank you for bringing this to my attention
