Book Wraps Medium-Duty

Corrugated book wrap mailers for UK booksellers, publishers, record shops and online retailers. Also called book wraps, bookwraps, wraparound book mailers or C-format book packs. Variable depth, peel-and-seal closure and a tear strip, supplied flat in trade packs.

The sizes shown are maximum internal dimensions

Every figure in the size table is the maximum internal size — the largest item the wrap will close around. It is not the size of the finished pack, and it is not a fixed depth.

Size to your contents, not to the wrap. Measure the largest title you post regularly and pick the size that clears it. A wrap slightly too big still works; one a millimetre too small does not close.

The finished pack measures a little more than the internal figure, because the board wraps around the outside. On most sizes that is immaterial. On the sizes near a postage threshold it is the difference between two bands.

What a book wrap does that an envelope can't

A book wrap isn't an envelope with a book in it. It's a single sheet of corrugated, pre-scored, that you fold around the contents — so the packaging ends up the exact depth of what's inside it.

That matters for three reasons.

No void. A book in a fixed-depth mailer has empty space around it, and empty space is where movement happens. A wrap folds down to the contents and holds them still without void fill.

Corner protection. The fold lines create reinforced edges at exactly the points where a book gets damaged — the corners and the spine.

One size covers a range. Because the depth adjusts, a single wrap size handles a slim paperback and a chunky hardback. That's the difference between stocking four sizes and stocking twelve.

Postage: the band follows your contents, not the wrap

This is where a book wrap earns its cost, and it’s worth being exact.

A book wrap has no fixed depth. The scored board folds down to whatever is inside and the flap seals wherever it lands, so one size covers a slim paperback and a thick hardback. That flexibility is the reason to use a wrap instead of a rigid box — but it also means your postage band is set by what you put in it.

The three bands in play:

• Royal Mail Large Letter — up to 353 × 250 × 25mm and 750g.
• Royal Mail Small Parcel — up to 450 × 350 × 160mm and 2kg.
• Royal Mail Medium Parcel — up to 610 × 460 × 460mm and 20kg.

Because the listed sizes are maximum internal dimensions and Royal Mail measures the outside, the band for each size works out as follows:

• 270 × 190mm and 300 × 215mm — both sit inside the Large Letter footprint. A slim paperback in either will post as a Large Letter provided the packed depth stays under 25mm and the weight under 750g. Anything thicker is a Small Parcel.
• 330 × 270mm — a Small Parcel at any depth. At 270mm across it is past the 250mm Large Letter width before you add board.
• 455 × 320mm — a Medium Parcel at any depth. 455mm is beyond Small Parcel’s 450mm length limit, and the finished pack measures more again.

Packed to their full internal depth of 70–90mm, every size here is a parcel. The Large Letter saving is available only on the two smaller sizes, and only when the contents are slim.

Weigh and gauge a packed sample. 750g is easier to reach than people expect — a trade paperback plus packaging can sit close to it.

Medium duty, and when you need heavy

Medium duty is the everyday specification: enough board to resist crushing and edge damage in a normal postal network, without the weight and cost of a heavier grade.

Step up to heavy duty when the contents are dense for their size — hardbacks, art books, boxed sets — or where value makes damage expensive: signed copies, first editions, collectible vinyl. Heavier board is also worth it if you ship a lot through networks with multiple handling points.

Medium duty is right for paperbacks, single books, DVDs, CDs, games, magazines and most everyday bookselling.

Step down to light duty when you’re posting high volumes of ordinary paperbacks, CDs or DVDs and the per-unit cost matters more than the extra board.

What fits

• Paperbacks and trade paperbacks, single or in small bundles
• Hardbacks up to moderate thickness
• DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs and games, singly or in sets
• 7-inch vinyl singles — the two larger sizes take them comfortably
• Magazines, catalogues and annuals
• Board games and flat boxed goods

For 12-inch LPs, use a purpose-made vinyl record mailer — only the 455 × 320mm wrap will close around a 315mm sleeve, and a dedicated mailer protects the corners better.

Choosing a size

Three things decide the size: the footprint of your largest common title, the postage band you want to land in, and nothing else. The simplest way to choose is by paper size.

• 270 × 190 × 80mm — A5 (210 × 148mm) and B5 (250 × 176mm) paperbacks, DVDs, CDs. Too small for A4.
• 300 × 215 × 90mm — A4 (297 × 210mm), with little to spare. The deepest wrap in the range.
• 330 × 270 × 80mm — A4 with room, annuals, catalogues, 7-inch vinyl.
• 455 × 320 × 70mm — A3 (420 × 297mm), 12-inch vinyl, board games and large-format illustrated titles.

Size to the footprint, let the depth look after itself. That's the whole advantage: you're choosing length and width, and the wrap handles thickness. Take the size that fits your largest common title, not your average one.

If your range spans widely, two sizes usually cover it — one for standard novels, one for larger-format and illustrated titles.

Buying by the pack

Supplied flat in trade packs with price breaks as quantities increase. Flat delivery matters on a wrap: these arrive as scored sheets and take a fraction of the storage a made-up equivalent would.

We buy these direct from the manufacturer as part of a manufacturing group, at volumes a reseller can’t reach, and hold them across more than 100,000 square feet of warehousing. No middleman margin, and stock on the shelf rather than on order.

Switching from another supplier and not sure which size matches? Send us the code or dimensions you buy now and we'll match it.

Delivery and returns

Order by 2pm, Monday to Friday, for same-day dispatch. Free UK mainland delivery in 1–2 working days, with a £75 minimum order. Full terms on our delivery and returns pages.