Basic guide

to calculate paper
FUNDAMENTALS OF PRINTED PRODUCTION
U2 | SUPPORTS

Authors:
Romina Galarza
María Belén Fernández Chevichuk

University of Buenos Aires

Faculty of Philosophy and Letters
Editing Career
 For what? The importance of paper in our
projects
Maybe you are thinking that, if you are not going to perform in the area of
Production of a large publishing house, these calculations are not worth it nor the
effort to learn them. Dear student: let us tell you that either
in a multinational publishing house or in our own venture, if we want
to obtain a physical book, we must understand the impact that our actions have
decisions related to this aspect. That is to say, although between both types
the budgetary differences between organizations are enormous, both
they share the same raw material and in both cases, it often represents
more than 60% of the total production cost.

Issues to consider in the current market

On one hand, we must know that there is a monopoly in the commercialization.
paper production. First of all, in Argentina there are only two manufacturers.
from construction paper: Cellulose and Ledesma. Both manufacture white construction paper.
but only Cellulose produces the rough-type paper (known in the market...
as "Bookcel"). Although in recent years Ledesma introduced to
market its paper work without bleaching process, the 'Nat', is the Bookcel
the most used in the country for textbooks printed in one color (1/1).
Likewise, these companies only sell directly in large volumes.
lumens, which is why they only sell to major publishers or to the main ones.
printing companies of the country (that is, the companies with sufficient capital to
face purchases of more than 50 tons approximately per month). Those who cannot
They must purchase directly through distributors.
which, logically, is with an additional charge. On the other hand, the papers
Encapsulated products are not manufactured in the country, therefore, they are imported (by the
same distributors mentioned before).
In conclusion, the publishers that do not buy directly have
two options: buy from a distributor or consider that the printing house provides
the paper and summed it into the final cost. So, while it is true that posi-
You really don't need to know how many reams you need for a project.
because the printing company will send you the final amount with all the paper included (or
because simply "another area takes care of that" it is important to know
the methodology of the calculations as it will help you understand and, therefore,
so, to decide, in everything related to: the optimal format of the book and/or
a collection, the final number of pages, the types of paper it has
a project, the possible weights, etc.

How is paper marketed?

Just as we have different formats for our home printers
paper materials (A4, Legal or Letter), the paper for industrial use has
also their standard formats. In general terms, standard papers
work and illustration have the same formats available while
The cardboards have other formats. In all cases, the price of the paper
Whether national papers or It is by kilo. During 2022, there was a very marked shortage of paper.
imported, the price is in dollars, which not only caused more frequent price increases, but also
but for the purposes of unifying
limited availability in certain formats and even in certain
a criterion, we will use a price
expressed in pesos without taxes.
weights, which in turn generated decision-making that affected
many editorial aspects: from changes in weights in the same
collection like until paper changes between one reprint and another of the
same title. It is important to mention that not all machines im-

02
 printers can print the same formats, that is, there are formats
of paper that do not fit in the printer and in those cases, those papers are
trimmed (whether edged or cut in half).

How is the cost of paper for a project calculated?

First, the consumption of each type of paper is calculated. That is,
the one for interiors on one side and the one for lids on the other. It can also be
what we should calculate for sheets, endpapers (if it were
a hardcover edition), for belly bands, for bookmarks, among others. Once
that we have that consumption in reams or sheets, the results should be
convert to kilos to obtain the amount.
To calculate consumption, then, there are data that cannot be missing and
they are the following:
Book format (expressed width x height in cm)
2. Draw
3. Number of pages.
4. Weights of each paper or cardboard.
5. Type of binding: whether it is hardcover or cardboard, needs to be calculated.
paper to cover the covers and paper for the end pages); if it is a cover
soft and with flaps, what are the dimensions?
Next, we will work on different cases that usually occur.
to pause when calculating costs:

The cases developed in this 1) Paper consumption for printed interiors in flat offset.2:
notes focus on machines The first thing we need to know is what format of sheet is optimal for
of plain offset, that is, to sheets. each book format. Remember that the folded sheet results in
It can also be printed in
rotary to bobbin but they are not the the booklet and that a book is ultimately made up of booklets
common for books. bound. To understand what the layout of the sheet is like before the
folded, we recommend taking a blank sheet:

Front

back

a) Blank sheet (not folded): b) First fold: c) Second fold: d) Third fold:
2 pages (1 front and 1 back) 4 pages 8 pages 16 pages

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 That initial sheet a
folded four times,
d) Fourth fold: it's open. It can be ob-
note that there are 16 pages
32 pages by the face of the sheet.

As seen in the diagram, when folding the initial sheet in half,

if you count the faces, you have 4 pages. If you fold it in half again,
You have 8. If you do it again, you already have 16 pages and, clearly, if you do it again
folding, you will have 32 pages. In a larger paper size, the logic
it is the same. Our goal is to know how many pages of our book
we can "fit" into a standard measurement sheet to then calculate
how many booklets does it have in total.
In this way, we will start with the following exercise:

Closed format: 13x20 cm 320 pages

Print run: 5,000 copies. support: 80 g/m bookcel2

It is advisable then to start the exercise by obtaining the measurement.

from the double page. For this we will use the data from the closed format:

20 cm

Closed format: 13 cm 13 cm
equivalent to 1 page

Then we will try to arrange that double page repeatedly.

until covering the entire surface of the sheet. It is always important to have in
count the maximum print format that the printer has
it will streamline the work. For the offset market in the publishing sector,
a common (but not exclusive) feature is that the booklets
that make up the interior of the books are folded in cross, so that
the number of pages we will find in these is 8, 16, 32 or
64 pages.
Something to consider when submitting the bids,
es decir, el proceso de “acomodar” esas dobles dentro de un pliego de papel
The standard is that in addition to having the dimensions of the double page, there are others.
spaces3that should also be taken into account:
These measures are estimates. Streets: 1 cm Space between double pages
There are machines that may require Margins: 1 - 1.5 cm (ends of the wide side of the sheet)
more space. The important thing is
evaluate each project and talk with
Clamp: 2 - 2.5 cm (Place where the machine grabs the paper)
the printer with which it is going to Cola: 1.5 - 2 cm
work if we need to adjust Resuming the exercise, then, we can notice that we are left with a
some measure to see if it's possible. imposition as follows:

04
 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm
4.5 1 1 1 4.5
92 cm

Measures of the imposition: So the conclusion is as follows: our book has sheets of
calles: 1 cm, pinza: 3 cm, cola: 2 cm. 32 pages (16 pages on the front and another 16 on the back). If the total of the book
In the case of the sides, it can be
observe that there is some waste.
it is 320 pages, each book will then have 10 signatures (that is, 10 sheets)
bound notebooks). This is confirmed with a simple rule of three:

32 pp 1 sheet
320 pages 10 sheets.

Well, we already know that to make 1 book we need 10 sheets. But

we must manufacture 5,000 copies. Be careful, it is tempting to replicate the
a count of 5,000 copies for 10 (sheets) but you need to remember that
in an industrial process such as offset printing the first sheets
what happens in the machine at the start of the printings of each booklet-
They are the test ones (or known as fine-tuning) and therefore they
discarded. The same situation applies to the next process of binding,
the first bound copies are the test ones and therefore
they will also be discarded. That is to say, if we put the exact amount, in the end
All processes will leave us with fewer copies. Therefore, if that -
we will obtain 5,000 copies, the excess paper could be estimated at
a 10%. This percentage is not universal nor is it the same for all prints already
that to produce 3,000 copies, for example, 300 sheets are wasted,
but for a print run of 50,000 copies, the adjustments will also be
require a similar amount (that is, it is not directly proportional to
the draw). However, at the end of our learning, we will leave it at
10% of the print run to avoid getting dizzy.
4
Important!do not confuse this So, continuing with the previous case, to produce 5,000 copies;
excessive paper with the concept we will do the following:
of excess color/bleeding of
or since they respond to different 1 book 10 sheets
needs 5,500 books (the 5,000 copies + 10% excess)4 55,000 sheets

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 In the case of interior paper, it is not purchased in sheets but in
reams. Considering that each ream has 500 sheets, then:

500 sheets 1 ream

55,000 sheets 110 reams.
Well, we already know how much the paper consumption is for interiors of
our production: 110 reams of bookcel paper of 80 g/m2.
5
Marketing formats of format 58x925cm.
most common paper: 58x92 cm, And if the recycling center tells me that the price per kilo is $1,500.- how can I
63x88 cm, 65x95 cm, 72x 102 cm y
82x118 cm.
to know how much this paper is going to cost me? What we need to know then
how many kilos the 110 reams weigh. To do this, we first need to calculate
how much does each ream of that paper weigh with the following universal formula:

Sheet width (cm) x sheet height (cm) x weight (g/m²)2)

20,0006
6
20,000 is a fixed number in this
formula that fulfills the function of
compensate the transfer of units That is to say: 92x58x80
(centimeters and grams). 21,344 kg per ream
20,000

So, if each ream weighs 21.344 kg, the 110 reams we need
for the interiors, they are 21.344 kg. At a rate of $ 1,500.- for the interiors
necesitamos$ 3.521.760.-

Before moving on to the next exercise, it is advisable to make certain clarifications:

a) While in the previously seen example it happens that all the qua-
the notebooks contain the same number of pages (32) it is not necessary nor
it is mandatory that it is always like this, but it can happen, for example, that in
instead of 320 pages, the edition would have 304 pages, so we would obtain
9.5 booklets of 32 pages (that is, 9 booklets of 32 and 1 of 16).
b) Sometimes there may be paper waste due to one of its
sides (either by height or by width). In those cases, what can be done to
find out what the optimal format is to calculate how many kilos are consumed each
option. For example, in this exercise it can be seen that on the side of the 92 there is
waste (since 20x4 + 3 x 1 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 86) and we could then pro-
to set the format of 63x88 cm. However, this contains waste due to
its high (26x2 + 1 + 2.5 + 1.5 = 57) and if we do the math we will see the following:

88x63x80 22,176 kg per ream

20,000

22,176 kg x 110 reams = 2,439.36 kg

In conclusion, by requiring more kg per ream, the final value will be higher.
dear (since 2,439.36 kg x 1,500 gives us: $3,659,040.-)
We have already calculated the cost of the paper for the interiors, now it’s our turn
calculate the covers.

2) Paper consumption for covers of an offset printed edition:

The covers are printed open, that is, cover + spine + back cover (and so-
the first thing we need to start would be the
following data:

Closed format: 13 x 20 cm Print run: 5000 copies

Support: matte illustration of 270 g/m2 Loin: 2 cm
Binding: paperback flaps: 8 cm

06
 Considering the format we had proposed for our project-
The unfolded cover would look as follows:

8 cm 13 cm 2 cm 13 cm 8 cm

The covers are printed several on the same sheet. Depending on

printer machine format we can try different options
until finding out which is the best for that case. For example, like this:

95 cm

This imposition has a point: being covers and not booklets does not make
It remains that the poses that come in must be a multiple of 4. However, this would not be
an optimal sheet why? Because if we calculate how many sheets we need
we would see the following for the printing of the complete run:

5.500/6 = 917 sheets

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 The problem that arises, then, is the following: to pay an upfront fee.
the machine is expensive, and even more if the machine to be used is larger. In addition, in
offset prints thousands of sheets per hour, so paying for a setup
more expensive to print for a few minutes doesn't make much sense. Another downside
It comes from the color side: the larger the sheet, the more complicated it becomes.
maintain chromatic stability in all covers.
For this reason, it is usual to use a smaller printing machine.
For printing houses, this does not pose a problem, as they usually have several.
models and, therefore, various sizes available. Returning to the exercise, it
what can be done would be the following:

In this way, we could cut the 65x95 sheet (using a guillotine)

tina) and obtain printing sheets of 65x47.5 cm. What needs to be remembered
In offset printing, the paper always enters through its wider side, so the clamp...
and the tail would now be on the side of 47.5 and the sides within 65. That is:

44 + 2 cm of pliers + 1.5 cm of tail = 47.5 cm

20 x 3 + 2 sides of 1 cm + 2 sides of 1.5 cm = 65 cm

Now that we have the optimal format, let's calculate how much paper we need.
we need for a run of 5000 copies:

5500 copies (print run + excess) / 3 = 1834 sheets (of printing)

2 printing sheets 1 sheet of purchase
1834 printing sheets / 2 917 purchase sheets

08 |
 2

44

1.5
20 cm 20 cm 20 cm
1.5 1 1 1.5

65 cm

In general terms, the illustration paper for covers comes in packages.

of 100, 150 or 250 sheets depending on the brand, format, and weight. This is from
great usefulness since many times the calculation of lids may not yield a
integer number of reams in terms of consumption for a book or a collection.
Since in this example we need 917 sheets of matte illustration of
7 In this case, for educational purposes, 270 g/m2from the format 65x95 cm, we will round up to 1,0007.
rounding leads us to have more than The paper mill informs us that the price per kilo of illustration paper is
a 10% excess. We must take into account
It is said that while the standard usually
of $3,000. Therefore, to know how much it costs we need to know how much
to calculate 10% can, in weigh each sheet.
in case a further edition is produced Same criterion as for the calculation of interiors but with one extra step:
complex (in the sense of counting First, know how much the ream weighs:
with more finishing processes
or with more dyes), even larger.
It all depends on the project. 65x95x270=83,3625kg
20,000

So: 500 sheets 83,3625 kg

1 sheet 0.166725 kg
1,000 sheets 166.725kg

166.725 kg x $3000 $500.175.-

Next we will address another case that can occur in the world.
editorial regarding covers: hardback or cardboard editions.

3) Paper consumption for covers with cardboard binding in offset:

The case of hardcover books is more complex because it is necessary to
calculate several elements more than on a rustic cover. First, it is ne-
it is necessary to understand what it means to produce a hardcover book: in principle,
combine two different materialities: a cover sheet and some cardboard that
they will be responsible for providing the rigidity to the lid itself. But in addition to
As mentioned above, it should be taken into account that we are going to have
a third role: that of guards.

09
 e
e d d e

d
d

e a

c b a c

a) Space for the cover cardboard

b) Space for the spine cardboard
c) Space for the back cover cardboard
Hinges between cardboard
e) Rebate: excess paper that is
leave on the sides to cover the
edges of the cardboard (the rest of the
cardboard will be covered by the guards).

Closed format: 13 x 20 cm Print run: 5,000 copies

Support: matte illustration of 150g Lomo: 2.4 cm
Binding: hardcover Rebate:1,5 cm

To start the exercise, the first thing to obtain is the measurement of the
open cover sheet. If you ever measured any edition of this style
you probably noticed that the interior (also known as the belly or the
The spine of the book) is usually several millimeters smaller than the cover (general-
between 4 and 5 mm on each side). It can also be seen that, unlike
What happens in paperback bindings is that the cardboard is not formed.
not by a folded piece on its back but rather three aligned pieces but
at a certain distance. Those measures must be taken into account.
Let's continue with the roll and the interior format that we plan-
we team up on exercise 1. So, for a print run of 5000 copies of
books whose format is 13x20 cm, containing 320 pages on paper
book paper of 80 g/m2we spoke with the pre-press sector and they present us
this plan for the assembly of lids:
1.5

20.8 23.8

1.5

1.5 12.5 cm 1 2,4 1 12.5 cm 1.5

32.4 cm

010
 Once this step is completed, we look for the optimal bidding document for
a cover with these characteristics. For example:

102 cm
Once again we see that a sheet accommodates quite a few poses from the cover.
For the reasons detailed above, we proceed to cut the sheet.
for purchase (72x102 cm) to obtain a print sheet of 51x72 cm.
In this way, we would obtain the following:
1.5

0.7

Important:
In this scheme the
clamp and tail measurements
they are very on the edge
but they are measures that
they occurred in a case
real. However,
1,2
prior to such a proposal
it should be talked about with the
printing press to advance. 2.6 32.4 cm 2 32.4 cm 2.6

72 cm

011 |
 5,000 copies / 4 1,250 printing sheets
5,500 copies 1.375 sheets
2 sheets of printing 1 purchase sheet
687.5 687.5 sheets
(we round up to 700, that is, 7 packs of 100 sheets)

Now let's calculate how many kilos we are talking about:

(72x102x 150)/20.000 55.08 kg per ream

500 sheets 55,08 kg
1 sheet 55.08/500 = 0.11016 kg
700 sheets 77,112 kg

77,112 kg x 3.000 = $231,336.

We already have the cost of the cover paper, but since it is a...
hardcover binding, we must also calculate the endpaper.
It is important to keep in mind that although the endpapers do not count as pages.
from the interior of the book, when calculating them they can be thought of as
two quarters: that is, two sheets of 4 pages (each glued or well to the
beginning or at the end of the book). The imposition would be carried out in this way:

Front: printed design of the guard

a b
Back: half of the back (a) will go As the size of the endpapers is equivalent to that of a double page
stuck to the cardboard while the page (or even a few millimeters wider) we can use the same
another (b) will stick to the first or to the
last page of the book. This back
sheet that in exercise 1 (58x92 cm). However, instead of obtaining 32
corresponds to the lid guard, in pages, what we obtain are the guards corresponding to 4 copies
the back cover (a) and (b) would be of the draw. So:
rotated.

If you save them for 4 copies 1 sheet

5,000 copies 1,250 sheets (5,000/4)
5,500 copies 1.375 sheets

The endpapers usually have a heavier weight than the interior.

For this exercise, let's pretend that our guards are made of paper.
white paper of 130 g.

012 |
 Just like illustration paper, high grammage paper is
marketed many times in smaller packages than a ream: 125
or 250 sheets. However, as in the exercise, the total number of sheets
(excessively) gives 1.375, we can round to 3 reams.
58 x 92 x 130
34,684 kg per ream
20,000

34,684 kg x 3 = 104,052 kg
104,052 kg x $1500 =$156.078.-

In summary, if we review and compare the costs of the exercises.

From what we have been developing, we can notice the following:

Cost softcover Hardcover

Interior paper $3,521,760 $ 3.521.760.-

Lid support $500.175.- $231.336

Guard's paper - $156.078

Total $4.021.935 $3,909,174

It is important to clarify the following point: it would seem, based on the results
they said that making a hardcover binding would be cheaper
but logically it is not like that, why? because these numbers are missing
one side the cost of the cardboard used (usually 2 mm thick),
added to the costs of printing and binding. We must remember that
each type of binding (cover, interior, and endpapers if any) will imply
a different setup in the machine and therefore a higher final cost.
Next we are going to explore a final case for offset that, although
it is not the most frequent, but it is still present in the publishing market:
the square format.

4) Paper consumption for the interiors of a square edition in offset:

The square format is often more commonly seen in picture books, or in
certain cookbooks, or art or photography books, among others. Generally
these editions usually share a higher retail price than the formats
traditional rectangular ones why? Because of their large paper waste.
If you look at the paper purchase formats, you will notice that these are
rectangular tables: 58 x 92, 63 x 88, 65 x 95, 72 x 102, etc. Due to this,
it is more difficult to achieve optimizing the paper if it is folded in that manner
traditional (in cross). That's why, if they counted the number of pages more is-
standard for square books, you would see that 12 or 24 pages appear a lot.
Let's analyze why:

Closed format: 20x20 cm 408 pages

Print run: 13,500 copies. support: white paper of 120 g/m2

013
 2

20

20

20

20 cm 20 cm 1 20 cm 20 cm

95 cm

20x3 + 2 strips of 1 cm + 1 cm of tail + 2 of clamp = 65

40x2 + 1 cm of street + 2 sides of 1.5 = 84 (11 cm of waste)

24 pages 1 sheet
408 pages 17 sheets

1 book 17 sheets
13,500 books 229,500 sheets
14,850 copies 252,450 sheets
(draw + 10% excess)

252.450 / 500 = 504.9 reams (rounded to 505)

65 x 95 x 120 = 37.05 kg per ream

20,000

37.05 kg x 505 reams: 18,710.25 kg

18,710.25 kg x $1500 (value per kg of artwork paper) = $28,065,375.

Now let's look at that same project with a cross fold. If we do

we will notice that 32 pages do not enter, which means we have to try
with sheets of 16:

014 |
 2.5

20

20

1.5

20 cm 20 cm 1 20 cm 20 cm

88 cm

20 x 2 + 1 cm of street + 1.5 of tail + 2.5 of clip = 44 cm (19 cm of

waste
20 x 2 + 1 from the street + 3 cm from the sides (1.5 x 2) = 84 (4 cm of waste)

16 pages 1 sheet
408 pages 25.5 sheets

1 book 25.5 sheets

13,500 books 344,250 sheets
14,850 copies 378.675 sheets
(draw + 10% excess)

378.675 / 500 = 757.35 reams (rounded to 757.5)

63 x 88 x 120 = 33,264 Kg per ream

20,000

33,264 kg x 757.5 reams: 25,197.48 kg

25,197.48 kg x $1500 (value per kg of the artwork paper) = $37,796,220.

37.796.220- 28.065.375 =$9.730.845(diferencia entre ambas opciones)

In conclusion, carrying out this project with the traditional documents (ple-
crossed cattle) comes out to be 34.67% more expensive. Are you willing to carry out the
calculations of this production but with the paper used in the first example
Bookcel of 80 g/m2)?

015
 Once the offset examples are finished, we are going to do a small
mention about what happens in digital printing. The first thing to consider is
The thing is that the machines are much smaller than in offset, and their sheet.
8 It is important to take into account that maximum is a super A3 (32 x 45 cm). Also, as it happened to us in offset
unlike sizes like A3 that we had to consider the space for the grip, tail, and sides, in digital
or A4, among others, the superA3 or A3+
At least 5 mm must be left on each side without information.
it is not a standard format but
it is achieved from sheets like the
65x95 and other guillotined per each To conclude this note, it is necessary to clarify some points:
printing. Depending on the sheet of I. In the exercises we always calculate the quantity of reams or of pa-
origin and size of the machine
It will be possible to see a few mm.
quotes that we later convert into kg to calculate the final price. This is
of difference between the A3+ of a así, pero también es común que hayan empresas que más que vender pa-
printing house or graphic and another. quotations or reams are sold by kg so in the budget request or
of purchase we should clarify it that way. An advantage of this type
The marketing aspect is that we may not have to round, for example.
exercise 2 (from 917 to 1000) but in the amount of kg that remains the most
close. Let's review:
500 sheets 83,3625 kg
1 sheet 0,166725 kg
1,000 sheets 166.725kg
917 sheets 152.886 kg
In this case, we could order 153 kg and in this way have 14 kg.
less the savings could be $42,000. For this reason, it is important to evaluate
the marketing method of each distributor.

II. In addition to the costs per kg of each type of support (be it artwork, paper
illustration, special papers or cardstock) it should be taken into account, when
time to budget or to place the purchase order, that the method
Payment may incur an additional charge. There are generally two ways
to pay the paper mill: either in cash or within 30 days. To this latter option in
Various places add an extra percentage.

III. The streets were calculated in offset with the standard measure/
ideal of 1 cm but this may vary depending on the content being printed.
as happens in covers or in interiors with images, it is common that
there is content for the cut (be it photos, drawings, backgrounds, etc.) and this will require
what is known as color overflow or bleed area (which as
9 The standard is usually from 3 to 5 mm minimum requires 3 mm8on one side) in this way, the streets could not be
on the side in interiors or on lids less than 6 mm. If, on the contrary, it were about reading books only with
of paperback bindings. In
hardcover we already saw that the excess
text content with margins not printed, then they could indeed be reduced
(rebate) is usually no less than 1.5 cm the streets to a number less than 10 mm. without fear of losing information.
by the side.

Now that we have evaluated different cases of covers and interiors, I invite you to...
we are asking you to investigate what other options you find in the market and to
reflect on the booklets and other sheets that make it up.

016