How to Calculate Spine Width | Pages × Paper Thickness Formula and Chart, A5 and B5 Cover Size in px, Bleed, and Minimum Width for Spine Text
When you send a doujinshi, zine or self-published book to a printer, the first thing you have to settle is the spine width (the thickness of the spine). Until you know it, you can't size the cover canvas (front, spine and back as one piece), so you can't start drawing. This guide covers how to calculate spine width as “interior pages ÷ 2 × thickness of one sheet” with worked examples, typical thicknesses of woodfree 70 kg and 90 kg, book paper and coated paper, a spine width chart for 16 to 200 interior pages, what size in mm and px to make A5 and B5 covers and pages (300, 350 and 600 dpi), bleed and the safe area, how wide a spine needs to be for text, why page counts are multiples of 4 and how to add blank pages, how much a copy weighs, the page order (imposition) for a home-printed saddle-stitched zine, and common mistakes before you submit.
The answer: spine width = interior pages ÷ 2 × thickness of one sheet
For a perfect-bound book (the interior is glued at the spine and wrapped in the cover), the spine width depends on how many sheets of interior paper are stacked. Each sheet carries two pages, front and back, so dividing the number of interior pages by 2 gives the number of sheets, and multiplying by the thickness of one sheet gives the spine width.
- 1
Count the interior pages
Leave out the 4 cover pages (cover 1 to cover 4) and count only the pages inside. For 60 interior pages, that is 60. Blank pages and the colophon page count as interior pages.
- 2
Divide by 2 to get the number of sheets
60 pages ÷ 2 = 30 sheets. If the interior page count is not a multiple of 4 (or at least an even number), add blank pages first and then calculate.
- 3
Multiply by the thickness of one sheet
If the interior is woodfree 90 kg (about 0.12 mm), the spine is 30 sheets × 0.12 mm = 3.6 mm. Paper thickness varies a little by brand and printer, so the value in your printer's table is the safest to use.
- 4
Match your printer's method
If your printer adds the cover thickness and the cover is art board 180 kg (about 0.19 mm), you get 3.6 + 0.19 × 2 = 3.98, or about 4.0 mm. Spine widths are normally rounded to 0.1 mm.
A saddle-stitched book (folded sheets nested and stapled) has no spine, so its spine width is 0 mm and the cover is simply the front and back side by side. You only need to calculate a spine for perfect-bound books (also called softcover or paperback binding).
Typical paper thickness: woodfree 70 kg and 90 kg, book paper, coated paper
The biggest factor in spine width is the thickness of one interior sheet. Japanese printers usually list paper by type and ream weight such as “70 kg” or “90 kg”, so it helps to know how ream weight relates to thickness first.
| Paper | Ream weight (shiroku) | Basis weight (g/m²) | Approx. thickness per sheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodfree 55 kg (thin) | 55 kg | about 64 g/m² | about 0.075 mm |
| Woodfree 70 kg | 70 kg | about 81 g/m² | about 0.095 mm |
| Woodfree 90 kg | 90 kg | about 105 g/m² | about 0.12 mm |
| Woodfree 110 kg | 110 kg | about 128 g/m² | about 0.15 mm |
| Book paper (cream) | 72.5 kg | about 84 g/m² | about 0.11 mm |
| Coated 90 kg | 90 kg | about 105 g/m² | about 0.075 mm |
| Coated 110 kg | 110 kg | about 128 g/m² | about 0.09 mm |
| Matte coated 90 kg | 90 kg | about 105 g/m² | about 0.085 mm |
| Copy paper (plain) | about 58 kg | about 67 g/m² | about 0.09 mm |
| Art board 180 kg (cover) | 180 kg | about 209 g/m² | about 0.19 mm |
Ream weight is the weight of 1,000 sheets of shiroku-size paper (788 × 1091 mm). To convert it to weight per square meter (basis weight, gsm), divide the ream weight in kg by 0.8597: 90 kg gives 90 ÷ 0.8597 ≈ 104.7 g/m². The “64 g/m²” or “67 g/m²” printed on a pack of copy paper is the basis weight, roughly equal to woodfree 55 kg.
- Coated paper is thinner than woodfree at the same weight: the surface is coated and compressed, so at 90 kg woodfree is about 0.12 mm while coated is about 0.075 mm
- Book paper is thick for its weight: the cream book paper used for paperbacks and novels is made to be bulky, so 72.5 kg gives almost the same spine as woodfree 90 kg
- Thicknesses are approximate: even “woodfree 90 kg” can differ by 0.01–0.02 mm between brands. Over 60 pages that is 0.3–0.6 mm, so redo the calculation with your printer's value at the end
Manga doujinshi usually use woodfree 70–90 kg for the interior, novels use book paper or woodfree 70 kg, and photo books or full-color art books use coated or matte coated paper. The paper you choose changes the spine width, so decide on the paper before you start the cover.
Spine width chart (16 to 200 interior pages, cover thickness not included)
Approximate spine width by interior page count and paper, using the thicknesses above and rounded to 0.1 mm. If your printer adds the cover thickness, add about 0.4 mm for art board 180 kg.
| Interior | Woodfree 70 kg | Woodfree 90 kg | Book paper 72.5 kg | Coated 110 kg | Matte coated 90 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 pages | 0.8 mm | 1.0 mm | 0.9 mm | 0.7 mm | 0.7 mm |
| 20 pages | 1.0 mm | 1.2 mm | 1.1 mm | 0.9 mm | 0.9 mm |
| 24 pages | 1.1 mm | 1.4 mm | 1.3 mm | 1.1 mm | 1.0 mm |
| 28 pages | 1.3 mm | 1.7 mm | 1.5 mm | 1.3 mm | 1.2 mm |
| 32 pages | 1.5 mm | 1.9 mm | 1.8 mm | 1.4 mm | 1.4 mm |
| 36 pages | 1.7 mm | 2.2 mm | 2.0 mm | 1.6 mm | 1.5 mm |
| 40 pages | 1.9 mm | 2.4 mm | 2.2 mm | 1.8 mm | 1.7 mm |
| 48 pages | 2.3 mm | 2.9 mm | 2.6 mm | 2.2 mm | 2.0 mm |
| 52 pages | 2.5 mm | 3.1 mm | 2.9 mm | 2.3 mm | 2.2 mm |
| 60 pages | 2.9 mm | 3.6 mm | 3.3 mm | 2.7 mm | 2.6 mm |
| 64 pages | 3.0 mm | 3.8 mm | 3.5 mm | 2.9 mm | 2.7 mm |
| 80 pages | 3.8 mm | 4.8 mm | 4.4 mm | 3.6 mm | 3.4 mm |
| 100 pages | 4.8 mm | 6.0 mm | 5.5 mm | 4.5 mm | 4.3 mm |
| 120 pages | 5.7 mm | 7.2 mm | 6.6 mm | 5.4 mm | 5.1 mm |
| 150 pages | 7.1 mm | 9.0 mm | 8.3 mm | 6.8 mm | 6.4 mm |
| 200 pages | 9.5 mm | 12.0 mm | 11.0 mm | 9.0 mm | 8.5 mm |
The chart shows that a thin book of around 20 interior pages has a spine of only about 1 mm, and even on woodfree 90 kg the spine passes 3 mm only from 52 interior pages. Spine width is proportional to page count, so you can scale from a nearby row for counts not listed. For example, 160 pages on woodfree 70 kg is twice the 3.8 mm of 80 pages, or 7.6 mm.
Working out the cover size: join front, spine and back, then add bleed
The cover of a perfect-bound book is one sheet with cover 1 (front), the spine and cover 4 (back) side by side. Your print file is also made as a single canvas joining these three parts.
| Example | Trim (front, spine, back) | With 3 mm bleed | 350 dpi | 600 dpi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A5, 60 interior pages, woodfree 90 kg (spine 3.6 mm) | 299.6 × 210 mm | 305.6 × 216 mm | 4211 × 2976 px | 7219 × 5102 px |
| Same A5 book with cover thickness added (spine 4.0 mm) | 300 × 210 mm | 306 × 216 mm | 4217 × 2976 px | 7228 × 5102 px |
| B5, 36 interior pages, woodfree 90 kg (spine 2.2 mm) | 366.2 × 257 mm | 372.2 × 263 mm | 5129 × 3624 px | 8792 × 6213 px |
| A5, 200 interior pages, book paper (spine 11.0 mm) | 307 × 210 mm | 313 × 216 mm | 4313 × 2976 px | 7394 × 5102 px |
| A5, saddle stitch (spine 0 mm) | 296 × 210 mm | 302 × 216 mm | 4161 × 2976 px | 7134 × 5102 px |
Plugging the first row into the formula, the width is 148 × 2 + 3.6 + 3 × 2 = 305.6 mm and the height is 210 + 3 × 2 = 216 mm. At 350 dpi that is 305.6 ÷ 25.4 × 350 ≈ 4211 px by 216 ÷ 25.4 × 350 ≈ 2976 px. The height in px depends only on the trim size; a different spine width changes only the width.
- Right-to-left binding (vertical-text novels, manga): seen from outside, the front cover is on the left and the back cover on the right
- Left-to-right binding (horizontal-text books): seen from outside, the front cover is on the right and the back cover on the left
- If you print on cover 2 and cover 3 (the inside of the front and back covers), make a second file the same size as the outside. Cover 2 is the back of cover 1, and cover 3 is the back of cover 4
Almost all Japanese manga doujinshi are bound right to left, so the front cover art goes on the left half of the canvas and the back cover on the right. Books bound left to right, such as English-language zines, tech books or photo books, are the other way round. Mixing them up gives you a print run with the front art on the back, so always check where cover 1 sits on the template before you submit.
How many px is one interior page? Sizes with bleed by trim size (300, 350, 600 dpi)
Interior pages are made at the trim size plus 3 mm of bleed on every side. Color or grayscale illustrations are usually made at 350 dpi, and black-and-white manga (1-bit monochrome) at 600 dpi.
| Trim size | Trim | With bleed | 300 dpi | 350 dpi | 600 dpi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm | 216 × 303 mm | 2551 × 3579 px | 2976 × 4175 px | 5102 × 7157 px |
| B5 (manga doujinshi) | 182 × 257 mm | 188 × 263 mm | 2220 × 3106 px | 2591 × 3624 px | 4441 × 6213 px |
| A5 (novel and manga doujinshi) | 148 × 210 mm | 154 × 216 mm | 1819 × 2551 px | 2122 × 2976 px | 3638 × 5102 px |
| B6 (manga volumes) | 128 × 182 mm | 134 × 188 mm | 1583 × 2220 px | 1846 × 2591 px | 3165 × 4441 px |
| A6 (paperback) | 105 × 148 mm | 111 × 154 mm | 1311 × 1819 px | 1530 × 2122 px | 2622 × 3638 px |
| Shinsho | 103 × 182 mm | 109 × 188 mm | 1287 × 2220 px | 1502 × 2591 px | 2575 × 4441 px |
| Shiroku-ban | 127 × 188 mm | 133 × 194 mm | 1571 × 2291 px | 1833 × 2673 px | 3142 × 4583 px |
dpi means “how many dots per inch (25.4 mm)”, so a 600 dpi canvas for the same B5 page is about 1.7 times as wide as a 350 dpi one. Black-and-white manga is made at 600 dpi so that screentones and fine lines printed in two tones (pure black or white) don't look jagged. Changing only the dpi number later doesn't add detail, so fix the canvas size in px before you start drawing. The relationship between dpi and px is explained in detail in image resolution and dpi.
3 mm bleed and the safe area (5 mm inside the trim)
Printed sheets are trimmed to the finished size at the end. The blade can shift by around 1 mm, so if your art or background stops exactly at the trim line, a shift exposes the white paper as a thin line. Bleed prevents this by extending the artwork about 3 mm beyond the trim line.
- Bleed (3 mm outside the trim line): the part cut off when trimming. Always extend backgrounds and art this far
- Trim line (crop marks): the line where the book is cut to size. Don't put anything important on it
- Safe area (5 mm inside the trim line): keep text, speech bubbles, page numbers and logos inside this so a shifted cut doesn't clip them
- Gutter (the bound side): a perfect-bound book doesn't open all the way to the spine, so leave an even wider margin than 5 mm on the gutter side
On the cover, remember that the spine sits between cover 1 and cover 4. Running the cover art across the spine is fine, but placing the title or a character's face right next to the spine can let a binding shift wrap it onto the spine. Treat the area 5 mm inside both the trim line and the spine lines of cover 1 and cover 4 as the zone for text and faces.
How wide does a spine need to be for text?
If you want a title or circle name on the spine, first check that the spine is wide enough. The cover can shift 0.5–1 mm sideways during binding, so text filling the whole spine will look like it spills onto the front or back. As a guide:
| Spine width | Spine text | Woodfree 70 kg | Woodfree 90 kg | Book paper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 3 mm | Safest to leave it off | 60 interior pages or fewer | 48 interior pages or fewer | 52 interior pages or fewer |
| 3–5 mm | Small text is OK | 64–104 interior pages | 52–80 interior pages | 56–88 interior pages |
| 5 mm or more | OK (leave 0.5–1 mm at both edges) | 108 interior pages and up | 84 interior pages and up | 92 interior pages and up |
With a 3–5 mm spine, keep the letters to 60–70% of the spine width (around 2.5 mm on a 4 mm spine) and center them. If the spine has the same color as cover 1 and cover 4, small shifts won't show. A spine in a separate color with a sharp edge shows even a 0.5 mm shift, so that design suits thicker books with room to spare.
Page counts are normally multiples of 4: adding blank pages, and limits for perfect binding and saddle stitch
Folding one sheet in half gives four pages, front and back. Printers print several pages together on larger sheets and fold them, so interior page counts are normally accepted in multiples of 4. Saddle stitch just nests folded sheets, so it is always a multiple of 4 (some printers accept multiples of 2 for perfect binding).
- If the interior comes to 58 pages, add 2 blank pages to make 60, and calculate the spine for 60 pages (3.6 mm), not 58 (3.5 mm)
- Blank pages usually go at the end of the interior (before or after the colophon). Turning them into an afterword or a bonus illustration also works
- Some printers can't glue a perfect-bound book with very few pages; the minimum is often 12–16 interior pages
- Saddle stitch works up to about 60 pages including the cover. Beyond that, the middle pages stick out and the book won't stay closed, so consider perfect binding
Watch out: page counts may be counted differently for the two bindings. Perfect binding is usually ordered by interior pages only (the cover is separate paper), but in saddle stitch the cover is just another folded sheet, so some printers take the order as the page count including the cover. A saddle-stitched book with 20 interior pages is 24 pages including the cover.
Typical thickness and weight per copy, before you ship
For shipping stock to an event or sending mail orders, it helps to know the weight of one copy and of the whole run. Paper weight is basis weight (g/m²) × area. One A5 sheet is 0.148 × 0.210 ≈ 0.031 m², so on woodfree 90 kg (about 105 g/m²) each sheet weighs about 3.3 g.
| Book | Thickness per copy | Weight per copy | Weight of 100 copies |
|---|---|---|---|
| A5, 60 interior pages, woodfree 90 kg, art board 180 kg cover | about 4.0 mm | about 111 g | about 11.1 kg |
| B5, 36 interior pages, woodfree 90 kg, art board 180 kg cover | about 2.5 mm | about 108 g | about 10.8 kg |
| B5, saddle stitch, 24 interior pages, woodfree 70 kg, art board 180 kg cover | about 1.5 mm | about 65 g | about 6.5 kg |
| A5, 200 interior pages, book paper, art board 180 kg cover | about 11.4 mm | about 276 g | about 27.6 kg |
| A6 (paperback), 200 interior pages, book paper, art board 180 kg cover | about 11.4 mm | about 138 g | about 13.8 kg |
These figures don't include ink, glue or packaging, so the real weight is a little higher. Once 100 copies pass 10 kg, carrying them by hand gets hard. If you ship boxes to the event venue by courier, check the weight limit per box too.
When you post mail orders through a letterbox service, thickness is more often the limit than weight. With an option limited to 3 cm thick and 1 kg, for example, a 4 mm, 111 g A5 book fits 9 copies by weight but only 7 (28 mm) by thickness. Size, thickness and weight limits for each service can change, so check the postal service's or carrier's information before you use it.
Imposition and print order for a home-printed saddle-stitched zine
For a zine printed on a home printer or a convenience-store copier, folded in half and stapled, you have to decide where each page goes on the sheet yourself (imposition). For an A5 zine, turn A4 paper landscape and place two pages per side. For an 8-page book (including covers) bound right to left, the layout is:
| Sheet | Front (left, right) | Back (left, right) |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet 1 (outermost) | 1 (front cover), 8 (back cover) | 7, 2 |
| Sheet 2 (innermost) | 3, 6 | 5, 4 |
The rule is that, starting from the outer sheet, the lowest remaining number pairs with the highest. For a book bound left to right (horizontal text), left and right swap: sheet 1 front is 8, 1 and back is 2, 7; sheet 2 front is 6, 3 and back is 4, 5. A 12-page right-to-left book uses three sheets: 1, 12 / 11, 2, then 3, 10 / 9, 4, then 5, 8 / 7, 6.
- 1
Round the page count up to a multiple of 4
For a 10-page book, add 2 blank pages to make 12. If you want the last page to be the back cover, put the blanks before it (between page 9 and the back cover).
- 2
Arrange the pages in imposition order and print duplex
Set the paper to landscape and duplex printing to “flip on short edge”. With “flip on long edge” the back side comes out upside down. You can also reorder your PDF pages in imposition order and print “2-up (2 pages per sheet)”.
- 3
Stack, fold in half and staple
Stack the sheets in order with sheet 1 outside, fold them in half and staple the fold in two places. A long-reach stapler that reaches the middle of the fold makes this easy.
- 4
Print one copy and check before printing the rest
Checking page order and orientation on the first copy before printing the rest saves a lot of wasted paper.
In a zine with many sheets, the inner sheets stick out further at the edge when folded (creep). Leave wider outer margins, or trim the edge with a craft knife after folding for a neat finish.
Common mistakes to check before you submit
| Common mistake | What happens | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| Counting the 4 cover pages as interior pages for the spine | The spine comes out two sheets (about 0.2 mm) too wide | Count interior pages without the cover |
| Drawing the cover before the page count is final | Adding or removing pages changes the spine and the cover canvas no longer fits | Keep the spine area flexible and fix the spine width once the page count is set |
| Swapping cover 1 and cover 4 | The front cover art ends up on the back | Right-to-left: front on the left seen from outside; left-to-right: front on the right |
| No bleed | A shifted cut leaves a white line at the edge | Extend the background 3 mm beyond the trim line |
| Speech bubbles or page numbers right at the edge | Text gets cut off when trimming | Keep them 5 mm inside the trim line |
| Your spine calculation doesn't match the printer's | Spine art or text drifts onto the cover | Use the value from your printer's spine chart or template in the end |
The most reliable approach is to use the spine chart or template published by the printer you will submit to. Use the values in this guide and the tool as estimates of “roughly how many mm this paper and page count gives”, so you can decide on paper and page count early. Some printers use their own thickness factors or add the cover thickness or binding swell, and results under the same conditions can differ by 0.1–0.5 mm.
Checking with the Spine Width Calculator
With the Spine Width Calculator, you just choose the trim size, page count and paper to see the spine width and the full cover size with bleed in mm and px.
- 1
Choose the trim size and binding in “Spine & cover size”
Choose a trim size such as A5 or B5, “Perfect binding (with spine)” or “Saddle stitch (staples)”, and “Right-to-left (vertical text, manga)” or “Left-to-right (horizontal text)”.
- 2
Choose the page count and paper
Enter the interior pages (not counting the 4 cover pages) and choose the interior and cover paper. If you know your printer's paper thickness, choose “Enter thickness” and type it in. If your printer counts the cover, turn on “Also add the cover thickness (×2) to the spine”.
- 3
Check the spine and cover size, then save the template
You get the spine width, the full cover size with bleed (px at 300, 350 and 600 dpi), spine text advice, and the thickness and weight per copy. Save the cover template as a PNG (choose the dpi) or SVG and place it under your artwork in your drawing app. Pink is the bleed, the red line is the trim line and the green dashes mark the safe area.
- 4
For a zine, get the order from “Zine imposition”
Enter the total pages including front and back covers to see which pages go on the front and back of each sheet and the order to print them. You can also choose whether blanks go before the back cover.
The “Charts & terms” tab has a spine width chart, px sizes with bleed for each trim size, a table of paper thickness and basis weight, and print terms such as cover 1–4, page numbers and crop marks. Use it to recalculate with your printer's paper thickness or for a final check before you submit.
FAQ
- How do I calculate the spine width of a doujinshi or zine?
- Divide the interior page count by 2 to get the number of sheets, then multiply by the thickness of one sheet. A5, 60 interior pages on woodfree 90 kg (about 0.12 mm) gives 30 × 0.12 mm = 3.6 mm. If your printer adds the cover, add the cover paper thickness × 2 (about 0.4 mm for art board 180 kg).
- Do the cover pages count toward the spine width?
- No. The spine of a perfect-bound book depends on the number of interior sheets, so calculate with the interior page count, leaving out the 4 cover pages. Whether to add the cover paper thickness depends on the printer, so follow your printer's method.
- What px size should an A5 cover be?
- The width depends on the spine. For A5 with a 3.6 mm spine and 3 mm bleed, it is 305.6 × 216 mm: 4211 × 2976 px at 350 dpi or 7219 × 5102 px at 600 dpi. The height of 2976 px (350 dpi) stays the same whatever the spine width.
- What is the cover size for a B5 book?
- Width is 182 × 2 + spine + 6 mm and height is 263 mm (with bleed). With 36 interior pages on woodfree 90 kg (2.2 mm spine), it is 372.2 × 263 mm, or 5129 × 3624 px at 350 dpi. One interior page is 188 × 263 mm (2591 × 3624 px at 350 dpi, 4441 × 6213 px at 600 dpi).
- How wide does a spine have to be for text?
- Under 3 mm it's safest to leave spine text off; at 3–5 mm use small text; from 5 mm you can add text with 0.5–1 mm of margin at both edges. On woodfree 90 kg, 52 interior pages give about 3.1 mm and 84 pages about 5.0 mm.
- How much does the spine change between woodfree 70 kg and 90 kg?
- One sheet is about 0.095 mm versus about 0.12 mm, so 90 kg is about 1.26 times thicker. With 60 interior pages, 70 kg gives about 2.9 mm and 90 kg about 3.6 mm. Coated paper is thinner than woodfree at the same weight, about 0.075 mm at 90 kg.
- What if my page count isn't a multiple of 4?
- Add blank pages to reach a multiple of 4. With 58 interior pages, add 2 to make 60 and calculate the spine for 60 pages. Blank pages usually go at the end, and you can use them for an afterword or bonus illustration. Some printers accept multiples of 2 for perfect binding.
- In what order do I lay out the pages of a zine?
- For an 8-page book bound right to left, put 1 and 8 on the front of sheet 1 and 7 and 2 on the back, then 3 and 6 on the front of sheet 2 and 5 and 4 on the back. Bound left to right, left and right swap. Print landscape with duplex set to “flip on short edge”, stack, fold in half and staple the fold.
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