So many things about books in St. Louis are counterintuitive. Last January, a small independent bookstore announced it might close. By the end of the year, however, Subterranean Books was still alive — but the St. Louis area had lost 10 large chain stores. Not only were independent bookstores still around, several called 2011 one of their best years.

National book news in the past year focused on the liquidation of Borders stores and a continued rise in sales of e-books and e-readers. In St. Louis, one of the biggest events was the founding of the St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance, which raised awareness of 12 small stores by holding bus cruises, literary speed-dating and a holiday book drive.

Kelly von Plonski, owner of Subterranean Books, said by email that the University City store is "doing much better. Our sales are up 18 percent for the year."

The average sale is only a fraction higher, she said, so the increase "is due to more people coming to us for their books."

Vicki Erwin of Main Street Books in St. Charles says 2011 was her store's best year.

"The Alliance and the raising awareness of local bookstores was major," she said.

Like other independent booksellers, Erwin is not sure whether the rise in sales was because former Borders customers were heading to her store.

But because of Borders' demise, she got to sell books at a national Parents as Teachers conference and made money by taking over other activities, such as selling First Night buttons.

Erwin's challenge is to let consumers know that they can also buy e-books through independent bookstores.

"Part of the process will be convincing the consumer that we don't mind e-books if they buy them from us, and educating them that with a Kindle, they are locked into Amazon," she said.

To that end, Pudd'nhead Books has offered gift cards when customers order Google e-books through its website. The Webster Groves store also is getting more customers after relocating to a more visible storefront on Big Bend Boulevard.

Owner Nikki Furrer believes the 3-year-old store is up about 20 percent for the holiday season.

She says that "a lot of publishers are cutting back print runs, catalogs, sales reps and author tours. I think everyone is afraid publishing as an industry is going to contract."

But shrinkage might be warranted. The expansion of Borders and Barnes & Noble stores in the 1990s led to a bloated publishing world, Furrer says.

Jarek Steele, co-owner of Left Bank Books, is hopeful about his stores' double-digit increase in sales. But he said by email that the recession had previously meant a 17 percent loss and "it will take a lot to recover from that. … It looks good this year, though. I'm not complaining."

Left Bank, the oldest full-service independent store in the St. Louis area, has signed up more than 900 people for its new loyalty program. Steele also plans to continue to develop "our children's and school business and other ties with our community. I think that's the main thing a locally owned independent store can do: be a good citizen and neighbor."

Even if publishers are sending fewer authors on book tours, St. Louis was host to several big events this year. Some of the most popular involved the mystery writers at Bouchercon, an annual conference that came to St. Louis for the first time.

Other big events involved Laura Numeroff, Gordon Korman, Alton Brown, Sammy Hagar and Regis Philbin. Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa came to St. Louis University to accept the annual St. Louis Literary Award.

A "60 Minutes" exposé derailed another prominent event. Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea," was to give the commencement speech at Fontbonne University but canceled after reports questioned the veracity of his books.

The top-selling books of the year were not necessarily new books. According to Nielsen BookScan, which covers about 75 percent of retail sales, the top sellers in both nonfiction and fiction were paperback reprints. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett led fiction sales with 1.8 million copies sold; the best-selling new hardback was "A Dance With Dragons" by George R.R. Martin (at No. 5) with 439,000 sold. The only other 2011 hardback in the top 10 was John Grisham's "The Litigators" (No. 9).

Among nonfiction books, the 2010 paperback "Heaven Is for Real" by Todd Burpo led the pack. The top new nonfiction book was Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" (No. 2) at 1.36 million copies, with "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly at No. 4; Jaycee Dugard's "A Stolen Life" at No. 6; "Bossypants" by Tina Fey at No. 7; "The 17 Day Diet" by Mike Moreno at No. 8; and "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson at No. 10.

As the year came to an end, the Barnes & Noble store in Crestwood said it was closing, joining nine Borders stores (a Books-A-Million opened in the Borders space in Edwardsville).

Meanwhile, the St. Louis County Library system said its attendance at events and circulation numbers keep rising. And for the new year, it will hold classes to train users how to check out e-books with the many new e-readers Santa left.