Total book sales fell 2.5% in 2011, to $27.2 billion, according to estimates released Wednesday by BookStats, the annual industry sales survey coordinated by the Association of American Publishers and Book Industry Study Group. Unit sales rose, however, up 3.4%, to 2.77 billion with the discrepancy due to higher sales of lower-priced e-books.

The increase in the sale of e-books was the major story in 2011. In the trade segment, sales of e-books rose to $2.07 billion from $869 million as units increased 210% to 388 million. With the growth in e-book sales offsetting declines in print, total sales in the trade segment inched ahead, up 0.5%, to $13.97 billion last year. E-books accounted for 15% of all trade sales in 2011, up from 6% in 2010...

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