About Us

Bywater Books, Inc. represents the coming of age of queer literature.

The Bywater Books mission is to publish commercial literature primarily targeted at lesbian, sapphic, and wlw readers. Our definition of “lesbian, sapphic, and wlw” refers to women or nonbinary persons identifying as lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, Two Spirit, sapphic, homo/bi/pan-romantic, asexual, and/or queer—this includes trans women.

The Amble Press mission is to publish fiction and narrative nonfiction by LGBTQ+ writers with contemporary resonance in our changing world, and with a primary, though not exclusive, focus on queer writers of color.

We believe that all people have the right to read or not read what they want—and that we are all entitled to make those choices ourselves. But to ensure these freedoms, books and information must remain accessible. Any effort to eliminate or restrict these rights stands in opposition to freedom of choice.

Please join us by opposing book bans and censorship of the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.

At Bywater Books and Amble Press, we are all stories.

Salem West

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Salem West brings a strong background in strategic planning, business management, and editorial direction to Bywater Books. Previously, she was the voice of The Rainbow Reader and served on the Board of Trustees of Lambda Literary. She is active in the queer literary community and participates in groups, panels, and events focusing on feminist and queer literature and the fight against censorship. West and her wife, Bywater author Ann McMan, collaborated on the novel Hoosier Daddy, which was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.

Marianne K. Martin

President

Marianne K. Martin is one of the best-selling lesbian romance authors in the history of the genre, and her books have gained a wide international readership. A four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, she has been honored with the Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society, and in 2013 she was inducted into the Saints + Sinners Literary Hall of Fame. Marianne is one of the founding partners of Bywater Books, and her responsibilities include oversight of Bywater Books, Inc.

Ann McMan

Director of Creative Services

Ann McMan is the Director of Creative Services for Bywater Books. McMan is a two-time Lambda Literary award-winning author with more than thirty-five years of professional experience in graphic design, marketing, and brand identity. Her design work has received national and international recognition. In recent years, she has become one of the most sought after brand developers and cover designers in LGBT publishing and is a four-time winner of the Tee Corinne Award for Outstanding Cover Design.

Christel Cogneau

Director of Operations

Christel Cogneau is an experienced business professional with more than 20 years in the international banking community. She has been a long-time advocate for civil rights and social action within the LGBTQ+ community and has served on the boards of LBTQWomen, the Golden Crown Literary Society, and the Essex Running Club. A native of Belgium and an avid runner, she’s lived in the New York/New Jersey area since 2001.

Orlando Ortega-Medina

Managing Editor, Amble Press

Orlando Ortega-Medina (he/him) is an award-winning author and experienced attorney who brings a wealth of expertise to his role as Managing Editor of Amble Press. A passionate advocate for underrepresented voices in the LGBTQ+ community, Orlando is committed to curating bold, thought-provoking works that align with the imprint’s mission of publishing stories with enduring value.

Rachel Spangler

Romance Editor

Rachel Spangler is the award-winning author of a bookshelf full of lesbian romance novels and has spent more than a decade learning the fine art of writing romance from some of the best teachers in the business. They bring this significant experience to Bywater Books by working with many of our romance authors to help them get the very best from their characters and storylines. Rachel authors the widely popular Wonder Boi Writes blog, where they are on a never-ending quest for new and better ways to build a bigger table for the queer literary community. Rachel lives with their wife Susan and son Jackson in Western New York.

Michael Nava

Editor Emeritus, Amble Press

Michael Nava is the author of an acclaimed series of seven crime novels featuring gay, Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios. The Rios novels have won seven Lambda Literary awards, and Nava was called by the New York Times, “one of our best.” In 2001, he was awarded the Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award in LGBT Literature from the Publishing Triangle. A native Californian and the grandson of Mexican immigrants, he divides his time between San Francisco and Palm Springs. Michael had a distinguished legal career, earning his law degree from Stanford University—he retired from the law in July 2016. Michael took over as the inaugural Managing Editor of Amble Press in 2019 before retiring in 2023.

Fay Jacobs

Managing Editor, Bywater Books

Fay Jacobs is an award-winning journalist and author. She is best known for her award-winning humorous essays detailing life in the LGBT+ friendly resort of Rehoboth Beach. Since 2004, she has authored five non-fiction books and one essay collection predicated on the advice of her father who said: “Nothing is ever so bad if it’s worth the story you can tell.” In 2006, upon the deaths of the often lesbian publishing pioneers Anyda Marchant (a.k.a., author Sarah Aldridge) and her partner of 57 years Muriel Crawford, Fay took over as publisher of A&M Books—a successor of the legendary Naiad Press (in 1974, Ms. Marchant incorporated Naiad, and was joined by Donna McBride and Barbara Grier). In 2015, Fay merged A&M Books with Bywater Books, where she currently serves as a managing editor.

Kit Haggard

Developmental Editor

Kit Haggard (she/her) is a freelance editor, teacher, and award-winning author of speculative fiction and critical essays on queer literature. Kit’s fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Electric Literature, and The Masters Review, among other places; critical essays on queer literature and fabulism have appeared in a number of outlets. Haggard is the recipient of the St. Botolph Emerging Artists Award, the Rex Warner Prize, and the Nancy Lynn Schwartz Prize for Fiction. She is also a 2022 recipient of the Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship and a Bread Loaf Scholarship. She holds an MFA from Emerson College and lives in Boston with her spouse.

Elizabeth Andersen

Editor and Proofreader

Elizabeth Andersen is an experienced copy editor and proofreader who has been working with writers for more than 40 years to bring their words to the world. In a past life, she served as an editor for columnists such as William F. Buckley; James J. Kilpatrick; Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize winner; and A.M. Rosenthal, former executive editor of The New York Times. She also edited nationally syndicated comic strips, including Garfield and For Better or For Worse. Elizabeth hosts the Sandra Moran Radio Book Club on The Tenth Voice, Kansas City’s LGBT public affairs radio show on KKFI 90.1 FM. She holds an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Until she moves to the mountains, she is happy in the Kansas City area with her adult sons, three cats, and a rabbit.

Paula Martinac

Developmental Editor

Paula Martinac has been involved in the publishing industry for three decades as an editor and an award-winning author of seven novels—five published by Bywater Books—and three nonfiction books. From 2015 to 2024 she taught fiction writing at UNC Charlotte, where she loved to help aspiring fiction writers figure out ways to strengthen their work (although she did not love having to grade them). In addition to editing for Bywater Books, she organizes and manages the adult education program at Charlotte Center for Literary Arts.

Nancy Squires

Editor and Proofreader

Nancy Squires is an experienced copy editor and proofreader who has been working with authors for years to bring their stories to life. She is also a creative writer, and knows firsthand the struggle of finding one’s voice and bringing it to the page. Nancy’s experience includes a decade of proofreading and copy editing for Bywater Books and other small presses; proofreading for corporate and marketing clients; self-publishing a collection of personal essays, The Cottage: Portrait of a Place; nearly a decade of blogging; and research and writing for legal and business clients. She lives with her partner and two cats in Michigan, loves music, hiking and kayaking, and above all, a good book.

Kelly Smith

Editor Emerita

Kelly Smith retired as editor-in-chief of Bywater Books in 2018. In 1992, she co-founded A Woman’s Prerogative, a lesbian bookstore in Detroit. Seven years later, she founded Bella Books and worked there for four years. In 2004, Kelly joined forces with Marianne K. Martin to found Bywater Books, which marks her lifelong commitment to excellence in every area of the publishing business. Kelly continues to provide consultation and typesetting services to Bywater Books.