Publishers Weekly has selected its bookstore and sales rep of the year.
The 2025 Bookstore of the Year is Source Booksellers, Detroit, Mich., owned by Janet Webster Jones, "an octogenarian... considered bookselling royalty," and her daughter, Alyson Jones Turner. While still a public school educator, Jones "began selling books about African and African American history in 1989 from a table she would set up at church bazaars, fairs, and other community events," PW wrote. "After retiring as an educator in 2002, Jones and three other Black women entrepreneurs formed the Spiral Collective, which sold various products for more than a decade in a shared space across the street from Source's current location in the Midtown district. Source became a standalone business in 2013 in an 800-sq.-ft. space that was expanded during the pandemic to 1,400 sq. ft."
PW noted that the store has an emphasis on history, culture, health, metaphysics, spirituality, and literature by and about women as well as many books about Detroit because, Jones said, "I see myself as a bookseller that is representing titles that relate to the people who are in Detroit, who come to Detroit, who have been in Detroit, and who have moved through Detroit."
Sandra Law, a sales rep at Abraham Associates, wrote in her nominating letter that Jones "has dedicated her life to championing literacy, education, and history, ensuring that readers have access to books that inspire, inform, and challenge perspectives."
The 2025 Sales Rep of the Year is Ty Wilson, Northern California sales rep for Ingram's Publishers Group West and Two Rivers distributors. He began his book career at Tower Books in 1984, eventually becoming national adult frontlist buyer. He then was adult frontlist buyer for Copperfield's Books.
"This business is still very much a personal business," he told PW, which wrote that "one of the things he loves most about his work is 'that chain from editor to rep, from rep to bookseller, from bookseller out into the public.' "
In his nominating letter, Michael Barnard, president and general manager of Rakestraw Books, Danville, Calif., said, "Working with Ty is a total pleasure. He's knowledgeable, diligent, and passionate about books. He works hard in support of his many, many publishers, but he also truly cares about the stores in his charge. I cannot think of anyone who deserves this honor more."