Free book spine labels online

You can make free book spine labels online: set a narrow width to the spine you measured, turn the text so it reads on the shelf, and print on a sheet or a small thermal label. It all happens in the free label maker, in your browser.

Print one spine and hold it on the book

Set the width, turn the text the way your shelf reads, and try the longest title first. No signup.

Open the book spine label →

Book spine label examples you can open and edit

These are real renders from the editor. The call numbers, titles and authors are made up for the examples. Click one and it opens with the same layout and text, ready for your own books.

Upright spine label1 x 3 in. Call number, title, author, copy. Spine labels from a book list1 x 3 in. CallNumber, Title, Author, Copy columns. Short call-number label2 x 1 in. Two lines for a short call number.

Measure the spine, not the cover

A paperback may only give you half an inch of flat space. A textbook gives you more, until the hinge eats the edge of the sticker.

Set the label a little narrower than that flat strip, so the corners don't climb onto the front cover. The upright example is 1 inch wide and 3 inches tall. A thin paperback may need less width than that, and a thick cookbook can take a 2 x 1 label placed low on the spine.

Measure a few books from the shelf you're labeling, not just one. The thinnest spine sets the width for the whole run.

Which way the type runs

Direction is the part most people get wrong on the first print.

There are two common layouts. Upright and stacked, like the first and third examples: short lines that read across, one under the other, such as a call number over the author's name. That's the usual library look, and it works on a spine as narrow as an inch if every line is short.

Rotated: one longer line, such as a title, turned to run along the spine. To do that, click the text box, use Rotate and type 90, then stretch the box along the label. If your shelf reads top to bottom, rotate the text so the title runs the same way. Mix directions and the eye can't scan a row of books.

Short lines win. The title and then the author is enough on a home shelf. A long subtitle belongs on the cover you already have, not crushed into 8 point type on the spine.

A sheet at the desk, or a small thermal label

An Avery-style sheet is the right tool for a Saturday of cookbooks. You see many labels on one page, you can pick a size close to the spine, and a normal printer does the work.

Cut on the lines. Don't scale the PDF to fit, or the row shifts and you slice through letters.

A small thermal label is better for a cart. Peel, stick, done, no scissors. A 2x1 can work on a wide spine if you place it low, where the hinge won't flex it off.

A truly thin spine wants something narrower than 2 inches. Set a custom width instead of forcing a shipping label onto a novel.

Print free book spine labels from your list

A handful of books, type them in. A shelf of them, keep a list. Here is the fictional list behind the second example:

1. Open https://app.mylabelmaker.com. No signup. Set the width to the spine you measured.
2. Turn the text so it matches the other books on that shelf.
3. Keep two or three short lines: title, author, and a copy note if you need one.
4. Have a list? Click Data, upload or paste it, then click each line on the label, click Variables and pick its column. The spine label with the sample list shows it already connected.
5. Print one. Cut it if it's on a sheet, and hold it on the book before you commit.
6. If a line wraps, shorten the words. Don't shrink the type until you can't read it from the shelf.
7. Then tick the rest of the list in Edit row and click Print.

The book with the longest title is your proof. If that spine holds the words, the short titles will too.

Call numbers, only as text you already use

If you're labeling a classroom or church library, you may already have a call number, such as a Dewey number, and a name. Print that string. Don't invent a classification to look official.

Home shelves often need less. A genre word, the author's last name, or just the author.

Color on the edge of the sticker can group fiction without a number. Use a color you can reprint later. A one-off marker color is how a shelf becomes a puzzle.

Item barcodes, property stickers and printing from a catalog export are covered on the library labels page. This isn't a circulation system: it won't check a book in, track fines, or talk to a catalog server.

Stick it so the book still closes

Smooth the sticker down with a thumb. A lifted corner on a paperback catches the next book and tears.

If the cover is textured, a larger label on the back is sometimes kinder than a spine that won't hold. The shelf can still show a short label on the front, low, where you see it.