How many books does one cover roll cover?

A 14 inch x 8 m cover roll covers about 18 regular notebooks of about 24 x 18 cm. A 5 m roll covers about 11 and a 3 m roll about 6. Bigger books, thick textbooks and a few crooked cuts bring the number down, so measure one of your own books before you buy for a whole school list.

These are our working estimates for one common notebook size, not a promise for every book on every school list. Notebook sizes differ from publisher to publisher, and we have certainly not measured them all.

So I will show you the maths instead. You can do it for any book in two minutes. If you are a distributor, this is the question your retailers get most often at the counter, and the table below is yours to share with them.

How do you work out how many books a roll covers?

A cover is one flat piece of film, cut across the roll. You need enough film for the open book, plus a fold on every side.

1. Open the book flat and measure its full width, cover to cover, including the spine.
2. Add 6 cm for the folds, 3 cm on each side. That is the length of film one cover uses.
3. Measure the book's height and add 6 cm. This must be no more than the roll's width.
4. Divide the roll length by the length one cover uses, and round down.

For a regular notebook of about 24 x 18 cm, the open width is about 36 cm and the height 24 cm. With folds, the piece is about 43 x 30 cm. The 30 cm height fits across a 14 inch roll (35.6 cm). Each cover then takes about 43 cm off the length of the roll.

I round down every time.

A roll that "nearly" gives one more cover usually gives one cover less in real hands, because the first cut is rarely perfect.

How many notebooks per roll length?

For regular notebooks of about 24 x 18 cm on a 14 inch roll, this is how our lengths work out:

Look at 1.75 m and 2 m. They give the same 4 covers, because 2 m is not quite enough for a fifth. The difference is the spare film. A 1.75 m roll leaves about 3 cm after four covers, which is nothing. A 2 m roll leaves about 28 cm, enough to straighten a crooked edge or recut a short fold, and for a child covering books for the first time I would choose the 2 m roll.

How do I measure my own book?

Use a tape measure or a 30 cm ruler, and measure the book, not the label on its cover.

1. Lay the book open, face down, and measure across from one edge to the other. Include the spine.
2. Measure the height, top to bottom.
3. If the book is thick, open it to the middle before you measure, so the spine sits at its true width.

Here is a worked calculation for a thicker book of 26 x 20 cm and 2 cm of spine:

1. Open width: 20 + 20 + 2 = 42 cm. Add 6 cm for folds, and each cover uses 48 cm.
2. Height: 26 + 6 = 32 cm. That fits a 14 inch roll.
3. An 8 m roll gives 800 ÷ 48 = 16.6, so 16 covers. A 5 m roll gives 10 and a 3 m roll gives 6.

That book takes two covers fewer per 8 m roll than a regular notebook. Across a whole school list, those differences add up. That is why it pays to measure the biggest book first.

What about registers and big books?

A tall book changes the width you need, and sometimes the maths too.

Take a long register of about 30 x 21 cm with 1 cm of spine. The height with folds is 36 cm, which is too much for a 14 inch roll. It needs 16 inch (40.6 cm). We make that width in our Standard natural roll and in our Supreme wide covers. The open width with folds is 21 + 21 + 1 + 6 = 49 cm. So a 16 inch x 5 m roll covers about 10 such registers, and a 3 m roll about 6.

A 19 inch roll (48.3 cm) allows a small trick with regular notebooks. The notebook's open width with folds, about 43 cm, fits across the roll. So you can turn the book sideways and use the height, 30 cm, along the roll. A 19 inch x 5 m roll then gives about 16 regular covers, and a 3 m roll about 10. You lose a strip of about 5 cm along one edge, so the film used per cover is about the same as on a 14 inch roll. It is no saving. I mention it only because it helps when a 19 inch roll is what you have at home.

Our book cover roll size guide explains which width fits which book.

How many covers are in a carton?

For a distributor, I find it helps to think in covers, not rolls. The parent at your retailer's counter buys for six or eight books, not for a length of film.

1. A Super Delux carton of 200 boxed rolls, 14 inch x 8 m, holds film for about 3,600 regular notebooks.
2. Floura, Student JPPL and Unique come 180 to a carton, which is about 3,240 notebooks.
3. A Delux carton holds 250 rolls. With China in 3 m (D11), that is about 1,500 notebooks. In 4 m (D12), about 2,250.

Standard rolls are sold by the kilo, so the roll count in a bag depends on the length you order. We can give you the count per bag for your length, and then the same maths gives you covers per bag.

One more note on Standard rolls. They come as a two-layer tube that you cut open first. Open it, then measure and cut as above. Our how to cover a notebook page shows that step.

Why did I get fewer covers than the table says?

The table is the best case, and I would rather you plan for a little less. These are the usual reasons for falling short:

1. The first cut was crooked, and every piece after it followed the same slant.
2. The folds were cut at 5 cm instead of 3 cm. That is 4 cm more film per cover.
3. The books were thicker or bigger than a regular 24 x 18 cm notebook.
4. A piece was spoiled and cut again.
5. The book was measured closed, so the spine was missed.

Cut the first cover, fold it, and check it on the book. Then cut the rest to the same size.

How much should a family buy?

My advice to parents is simple. Count the books on the school list, sort them by size, and do the maths once for each size. Then add one spare cover per roll for mistakes.

If you only need a pack or two at home, PackSmith, our sister brand, sells a pack of five 14 inch x 3 m rolls online. By the table above, that is about 30 regular notebooks.

Who worked out these numbers?

We did, at Jagannath Polymers Pvt Ltd (JPPL). We make notebook cover rolls in our own plant, mostly for stationery distributors and wholesale dealers, and every cover is 50 micron or thicker. The full list of widths, lengths and carton counts is on our sizes and packing page.

If your retailers ask about a book size that is not in this article, send us its measurements. We will tell you which roll length leaves the least waste.