The annual BookStats statistical survey–a joint project between the AAP and the BISG–released a small set of “headline” data on Wednesday, in advance of fuller publication of data to subscribers next week. According to their extrapolations, the overall US publishing business inclusive of all sectors (trade, educational, professional, scholarly, etc.) accounted for $27.2 billion in sales, down roughly 2.5 percent from $27.94 billion in 2010, though unit sales grew by 3.4 percent. For the trade, where we focus our reporting and analysis, they estimate sales of $12.517 billion for 2011, down slightly from estimated sales of $12.59 billion in 2010. […]