BOOK PRINTING
Spine width calculator
Choose your interior paper, number of pages, and cover stock to estimate your book’s spine width.
Estimated spine width
mm
How it adds up
- Interior paper
- Cover allowance
- Glue allowanceFixed binding allowance
- 0.02000 in
- Total spine width
Inches are shown to 5 decimal places. Millimeters are rounded to 3 decimal places.
Check your book details
Enter a valid page count to see an estimate.
Confirm before building your cover. Spencer Printing must approve the final spine dimension and binding suitability. This estimate includes the interior paper, cover, and glue allowances. It does not calculate hardcover case dimensions.
Formula & paper thicknesses
Spine = (interior pages ÷ 2 × paper caliper) + (cover caliper × 2) + 0.02
Calculations use Spencer Printing’s paper and cover calipers listed below, including 0.0098 inches for 10pt C1S.
Units: Paper and cover calipers and the glue allowance are in inches. Metric conversion uses 25.4 millimeters per inch.
Pages: Count every interior page, including blank pages. The calculation divides this count by two because each physical leaf has two page sides. Enter an even page count; the calculator does not add blank pages automatically.
Range: The calculator accepts even page counts from 2 to 20,000. This software limit does not indicate that every size can be bound. Confirm your book’s binding requirements with Spencer Printing.
| Paper or cover stock | Caliper | Source cell |
|---|---|---|
| 50# Offset | 0.00340 | C4 |
| 60# White or Natural | 0.00460 | C5 |
| 70# White or Natural | 0.00520 | C6 |
| 70# Silk Text | 0.00374 | C7 |
| 70# Gloss Text | 0.00330 | C8 |
| 80# White or Natural | 0.00590 | C9 |
| 80# Silk Text | 0.00437 | C10 |
| 80# Gloss Text | 0.00362 | C11 |
| 100# White or Natural | 0.00760 | C12 |
| 100# Silk Text | 0.00555 | C13 |
| 100# Gloss Text | 0.00457 | C14 |
| 10pt C1S | 0.00980 | C16 |
| 12pt C1S | 0.01200 | C17 |
| 100# Felt Cover | 0.01640 | C18 |
| 100# Uncoated Cover | 0.01400 | C19 |
Glue allowance: 0.02000 inches. Cover allowances are twice the listed cover caliper.