Recently we covered a bunch of info about Paper Sizes—now we’re going to tackle books themselves. As with paper, the origin of the standards in the US seem to be lost in history, but book manufacturers have established some traditional sizes. If you want your book to fit into bookshelves, either in the store or at someone’s home, you really need to stick to the norms. Of course, if your book hits the international market, you’ll find that a completely different set of book sizes is customary.
Genre Specific
Before you can pick a size for your book, you need consider what’s inside. Children’s books are often a 7×10 format. YA is 5×7. Mass market fiction is a little over 4 by a little under 7 (it has to fit into a pocket). Comic books are 6 5/8 x 10 1/4 (to fit into those plastic sleeves).
Text books or technical manuals (cook books included) use a full 8.5×11 with spiral binding to make room for double columns and lots of illustrations…and it will stay flat when in use (on either the workbench or kitchen counter).
Novels, of multiple sorts, come in a range of sizes, with the width running from 5.5 to 6 and the height going from 8.5 to 9. At the small end, 5.5×8.5 (Digest size), you’re printing two pages per normal Letter size paper. (You could actually print those at home—of course, binding them would be a whole different ball of wax.) The larger end, 6×9 (also known as US Trade), is a rather popular size, so unless you have some specific reason to go with a different size, you may as well stick with this one.
If your book is short, rather than having a thin, floppy book (with not enough space on the spine for your title), try for a trimmed version of Digest: 5.25×8. It’s just a bit smaller, but with less space on the pages, you’ll have more pages, so your book will be thicker—an advantage that gives the reader a sense of worth.
International Market
When you hit the big time, and are being distributed internationally, you might consider other sizes. There aren’t as many choices here, but that’s good news. A bit smaller than Digest is the British Paperback size B (129x198mm or approx. 5 1/8 x 7 3/4). A taller, skinnier book, with larger pages, is the British Paperback Trade size C (135x216mm or 5 3/8 x 8 1/2).
On the other hand, for a longer book, you’ll want much larger pages, so you’d use paper size B5 (176x250mm or almost 7 x 9 1/2). If your book is really short, then use paper size A6 (105×148 or 4 1/8 x 5 5/6) to make it thicker. The other A size book you might look at is A5. It sits between US Trade and Digest, so it’ll feel right in your reader’s hands.
We hope to see you hit the big time soon. Keep at it!