Book weight calculator
Postage brackets, suitcase allowances, shelf loads — the weight of a book is asked about more than it is measured. The block is the exact identity — sheets × sheet area × gsm, no fudge — and the covers, boards, cloth and endpapers are modelled at their stock weights and itemised so you can see which part of the book is doing the weighing. Dry estimate: ink and a humid week add a few percent.
- Text block
- 373 gsheets × sheet area × gsm — the exact part
- Covers
- 13 g350 gsm wrap including the spine
- Posting a run of them?
- ≈ 1 per first 500 g bracketcouriers price in 500 g steps — the step, not the gram, is what you post
Arithmetic on this machine; no file involved, so nothing uploads.
The block is exact
An A5 sheet of 80 gsm paper is 2.49 g — half an A4 sheet, which everyone knows weighs 5 g. 150 of them is 373 g. Check it with a kitchen scale and any paperback on your shelf.
Hardcovers earn their freight
Two boards at 2.5 mm add ~120 g at A5, plus cloth and endpapers. The calculator itemises them because "why is the hardcover heavier" deserves a number, not a shrug.
Couriers price in steps
500 g brackets, not grams. The result shows which bracket the book lands in — the step is what you post, not the gram.
Questions people actually ask
Why is 80 gsm 'standard' paper?
It is the bond weight office paper settled on — thick enough to print both sides without show-through, thin enough that a 300-page book isn't a brick. The spine calculator uses its 0.10 mm caliper for the same reason.
Do photos change the weight?
The paper doesn't change; coated photo stocks are heavier per sheet (and caliper differently — pick them in the spine calculator). Ink itself adds under 2% even on dense coverage.
How much does the average novel weigh?
A 320-page trade paperback on 80 gsm lands near 340–380 g — the calculator will give you the exact figure for your trim. Hardcovers of the same extent run 150–200 g heavier.
Can I convert this for posting abroad?
The grams are the grams; the bracket your courier uses is theirs. The step line (books per 500 g) is the bridge — it tells you when one more book crosses a bracket.
Curious what your WhatsApp chat would weigh as a book?
Count it — freeThis is one of the tools — or see everything we’ve written.