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Graphic, artistic, QR codes with swag can turn any surface into a bookstore.  The last several years has seen authors like Stephen King, JK Rowling, James Patterson turn to eBook publishing and even self publishing to eBooks like Kindles and Nooks.  With the exception of Barnes & Noble, big book sellers have closed their doors forever over the impact of this technology and self-publishing.   

You have probably been hearing about the release of new versions of smart phones these past weeks.  Those phones connect to the internet of course and can download apps of all kinds.  They download QR scanner apps, too.

Let us connect the dots here: new phones, books can be downloaded, kindle app on phones.  Technology in the palm of your hands and millions of others. Now add QR codes but think big: Graphic QR codes! Not those slow, free, B&W ones that are so early 2000’s and in a show of the anti-climactic went directly to URL’s.  

You are a writer, you can certainly write a teaser.  Have that teaser, a sale or special offer embedded in a graphic QR code that links to your download and suddenly you have turned any surface into a bookstore.  You have enough imagination to know that what I am telling you will increase your readers and your book sales.  Don’t play small, aim out of the ball park with the technology that is within your reach.  QRCodesOfNote.com can create an incredible QR code for you to put on a book mark or a business card and make your own instant bookstore and sell a book from any surface.  

Questions? Comments?

Namaste,

Olive

Friends on facebook tell me that they love the convenience of electronic books so much that they are actually reading more books than ever.  Reading and rejecting more, too!  With so many varieties out there to choose from, and the borrowing of books electronically made so easy and cost effective, people are not hesitating to pick up on lesser known authors.  Want proof?  Just last month, according to The Guardian.co,  four self-published authors were on the New York Times ebook best seller list.  Yes, “The Times” has an ebook best seller category and Colleen Hoover’s book “Slammed” was in eighth place, therefore ahead of none other than the successful, big publishing house author James Patterson who also has an ebook on the New York Times ebook best seller list.

Isn’t that exciting?  I believe it should excite each and every one of you self-publishers as it does excite me who is also in the same category.

As an aside, today I waited 30 minutes at the bank for service.  Last week I waited in a dentist office.  There was a wait for my oil change as well as for Sunday brunch.  All this waiting got me busy thinking, and I thought that it sure would be nice to read a book and so I whipped out my iPhone, because that is where I keep my Kindle (an app) cleverly disguised, and I read some more of my delicious book with each wait.

If this article fills you with questions, contact the experienced pro’s at QRCodesOfNote.com and have a 15 minute, no obligation chat about book mark teasers or how they can assist you with graphic QR codes and readers.

Your questions and comments are welcome here as well.  Leave one today!  In the meantime, check out some of the QR code examples shown here (designed by random artists).

~Namaste,

Olive

What is a QR code or QR tag?  QR codes (quick response codes) or tags, are pixelated squares that work like barcodes and are read by using a phone app to scan the square image.  When scanned, these codes immediately launch relevant information to the scanners phone or other mobile device.  This launched information can be a video book teaser, excerpt, book review with purchase URL; the information varies according to what you, the book seller, wish to convey.  Of course QR codes are not a tool limited to authors, but as a fellow author, I want to, of course, encourage you to incorporate these powerful squares into your marketing plan now because QR codes are expected to begin receiving widespread use.  

 QR CODE AT WORK FOR AUTHORS

The publishing house of Simon & Schuster recently announced that they will add smart phone scannable QR codes to their books in print.  The QR codes incorporated into this line-up may provide scans to unique content launches such as videos and possible special treats only accessible through scans.  Mashable reports that the QR code on a coming book from S & S will beam to an author’s page, displaying new releases of titles and possible author interviews. Image Source: Mashable.

There will be people who do not have any clue of what to do with that pixelated square QR code.  An excellent thing about this QR code shown is that it provides a call to action by the reader to “Scan for more…”, and when you use QR codes, you should remember that helpful inclusion, also.  However, this tag is less engaging than an artistic QR code and can be overlooked because, at a glance, it could be mistaken for something used for store business such as inventory or to be used by the cashier or other store personnel and not the reader.

Had this particular QR code been a colorized, shaped, or otherwise incorporated an eye-catching design, the demographic of people who use smart phones could recognize easier that the QR code was meant for him or her and become intrigued.  These consumers would want to download an app because, after all, people with smart phones are generally interested in exciting new apps.  To take matters a step further, if a good looking, designer QR code launched a special offer such as a discount, because it was perhaps a temporary looking coupon on a sticker, and the sticker said something like “Scan here and save now”; it is a simple fact that the consumer is likely to do what it takes to get their savings which is to follow the call to action of “Scan…”.

This scenario may sound full of hypothesis, but you are a consumer yourself, if you use a smart phone and came across an artfully arranged QR code suggesting things like “save”, “free offer”, “more from author”, would you make an effort to get a bonus with your purchase?  Many would.

Pay a visit to QR Codes of Note™ and find out more about using QR codes in your book marketing plan today.  There you will discover business card sized solutions, facebook banners, print and online banner solutions, and lots more.  Or better yet, spend a 15 minute appointment discussing some of the great options available to you from the experience of the QR Codes of Note™ design solutions.  

What about you, the author?  What are your thoughts or questions about using QR codes or tags as they are sometimes called?  Leave your words below in our comment section and let us have an exchange of information and ideas!

Namaste,

Olive

Here below is an example of a QR code designed by QRCodesOfNote.com that is a high resolution, scalable file delivered by email to be used on business cards such as the Avery product which come with a down loadable template for those do-it-your-selfers who know their way around a printer.  Others could have this file printed on business cards at their local FedEx-Kinko’s who also offer free delivery and this file could be sent to them as an email attachment.

In any case, this scandalous and inviting QR code links directly to the Amazon Kindle download purchase site of the book and incorporates features from the book’s cover.  A good thing to do with these cards is to pass them out like calling cards because they are indeed the calling card of an author.   We could include, in print, the authors link for those that don’t have a smart phone but as we all know, more and more often these people are dinosaurs, relics, and just a major holiday or phone plan expiration away from getting a smart phone.  When they do, I am sure they will download the Red Laser scanner app and check out this striking QR code.  You should, too.

Namaste,

Olive

QRCodesOfNote.com