Last week we published online forms to calculate paperback spine thickness and book weight. This week we’ve published more calculators and converters for hardworking book production people.
Book Publishing and Printing Calculators
Calculating Spine Width When There Are Inserts In Your Book
Inserts are sections of pages within a book that are printed on different paper stock than the main text, often so that photographs or artwork can be reproduced at higher quality than they would be on the uncoated text stock. Another reason to use inserts is so that color images can be printed without printing the whole book in color. This calculator is for determining spine width when you are printing an insert or inserts in addition to the main text. The papers used for the calculations are those stocked at Bookmobile. If you’re using another printer, the calculator will work as long as the PPIs of the stocks are the same or very close.
Paperback Spine Width Calculator With Inserts Option
Regular Spine Width Calculator
FYI, Bookmobile can print up to ten inserts per book, in color or black and white, with multiple paper options.
Page Size Converters
While in North America book pages are typically measured in inches, in the rest of the world book pages are measured in millimeters. Also, countries using the metric system often use the ISO system of standardized page sizes. If you acquire rights to foreign titles or sell rights to foreign publishers, you may need to convert between the different systems for the purpose of conveying production information. These new calculators allow you to convert back and forth between the systems.
Page Size Converter: Inches To Metric
Page Size Converter: Metric to Inches
Page Size Converter: ISO to Inches
Paper Density Converters
As with page sizes, there are two main systems of indicating paper density in the world. In North America, the basis weight system is used, where the density is indicated in pounds. In most of the rest of the world, paper density is indicated in Grams per Square Meter. If you print a project in the Far East or in Europe, you may want to know what the pound equivalent is of the 115gsm stock they are quoting on, or vice versa. These two calculators allow you to do both conversions.
Paper Density Converter: Pounds to GSM
Paper Density Converter: GSM to Pounds
An index of all online calculators is here.