QR code on back cover... cheesy or no?

JimHeskett · 2015-03-19

Sup all. Working on some createspace cover art. I'm thinking that instead of putting a little author bio and author pic, I might just put a QR code with a link to my website's About page. is that cheesy?

Flopstick

· #2 · Mar 19, 2015

(Just because it made me smile. I actually have no strong opinion or sensible answer to the question.

)

Edited to shrink image to accommodate those using mobile devices or older monitors. Thanks for understanding. --Betsy

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Betsy the Quilter

· #3 · Mar 19, 2015

As a reader, I wouldn't find it cheesy; I'm seeing QR codes on a lot of things. However, I wouldn't omit the author bio and pic from the cover--not everyone uses QR codes. I wouldn't probably bother to use a QR code just to look at the bio and pic--but if there's additional content that I could get, that might be incentive. You could use it as a newsletter signup, for example, for new releases. Or a free short story.

Betsy

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G

· #4 · Mar 19, 2015

I use QR codes on all my printed books. I wouldn't use it in an e-book at all .

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CarolineMCD

· #5 · Mar 19, 2015

How would you present it? Would it be like, "Book blurb blah blah blah" and off in the corner, "Scan this thingy to visit my website!

"

I don't see the sense in adding a QR code for author information and adding a gate between the reader and that information if you want readers to have easy access to it. Is there a particular reason why you don't want to include author info on the back cover or in the back matter?

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CarolineMCD

· #6 · Mar 19, 2015

Edward M. Grant said:
The point of the QR code for me is that you can pull out your phone, scan it, and go straight to the web site to find more info about the book, or more books by the same author. But, yeah, I'd leave the existing info on the cover, too. Mine just go down in the corner beside the barcode.

I guess I was looking at it as a QR code just for the author's "about" page, instead of for the whole site. (I never use QR codes personally and prefer to go to main pages on my desktop and explore for myself rather than being walked through things, but I think I'm a dying breed!)

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bethrevis

· #7 · Mar 19, 2015

Use the code! Just have a static link under it in small letters for the people who don't "get" it. That works well for me. (And I'd say, use in ADDITION to bio info, not in replacement of it.)

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Briteka

· #8 · Mar 19, 2015

I'm thinking of implementing one for my mail list. I don't see why it would be cheesy. I imagine almost all products will be utilizing them in the very near future.

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Jan Hurst-Nicholson

· #9 · Mar 19, 2015

I use it to take readers to my website.

At the top of the QR code it says Fiction Humorous and under it, it says Just4kix Books

I'm also thinking of having a T-shirt made with my website QR code

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· #10 · Mar 19, 2015

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:
I use it to take readers to my website.

At the top of the QR code it says Fiction Humorous and under it, it says Just4kix Books

I'm also thinking of having a T-shirt made with my website QR code

What!??

You want people photographing your...... bust?

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Jan Hurst-Nicholson

· #11 · Mar 19, 2015

TobiasRoote said:
What!?? You want people photographing your...... bust?

I'm a marketing slut

(Might put it on the back

)

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G

· #12 · Mar 19, 2015

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:
I'm a marketing slut (Might put it on the back )

ROFL'd

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Weibart

· #13 · Mar 19, 2015

To me, QR Codes are absolutely not cheesy! QR Codes have been integrated into a surprising number of (seemingly increasing) areas of our every day lives. Ever notice when you get a receipt it has a QR Code on it? Or instructions for new electronics or house hold items? QR Codes are being used in hospitals, universities, and other institutions. Industries are finding many uses for them and that looks like it's a good sign they're becoming more commonplace and might just be here to stay, for a while, until they're obsolete and become completely eradicated down the line.

I plan on incorporating QR Codes into the printed versions of my graphic novels. I like QR Codes because, if you link it to a URL, the webpage for that address can be updated and revised however you like and it makes it easy to stay timely. It adds an interactive element to your book, and gives you an extra opportunity to convince a potential reader to pick up the book and, if it's part of a series, show them what's to come in the books that follow.

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Melody Simmons

· #14 · Mar 19, 2015

Weibart said:
To me, QR Codes are absolutely not cheesy! QR Codes have been integrated into a surprising number of (seemingly increasing) areas of our every day lives. Ever notice when you get a receipt it has a QR Code on it? Or instructions for new electronics or house hold items? QR Codes are being used in hospitals, universities, and other institutions. Industries are finding many uses for them and that looks like it's a good sign they're becoming more commonplace and might just be here to stay, for a while, until they're obsolete and become completely eradicated down the line.

I plan on incorporating QR Codes into the printed versions of my graphic novels. I like QR Codes because, if you link it to a URL, the webpage for that address can be updated and revised however you like and it makes it easy to stay timely. It adds an interactive element to your book, and gives you an extra opportunity to convince a potential reader to pick up the book and, if it's part of a series, show them what's to come in the books that follow.

I agree...They are just part of everyday life. They don't take much space either, stick them down in the corner.

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Mark at Marble City

· #15 · Mar 19, 2015

Thumbs up for QR codes. I put them under the mail list sign-up. Of course, whatever they're linking to should be mobile friendly.

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Steve Vernon

· #16 · Mar 19, 2015

Nothing wrong with QR Codes. I have them printed on my author's business card. You hit that QR and it takes you right to my Kobo page.

I do find a lot of people who DON'T know how to use them. In fact I don't even know how to use them. I don't even own a cell phone.

HOWEVER, the QR is used by a lot of different vendors. And they are ADDICTIVE. If you hit one QR with your smart phone, odds are you are going to hit the next QR as well. People LOVE to play with their gadgets.

So I wouldn't worry too much about the readers who buy your book and DON'T know what to do with that QR. I would just make sure I have a traditional author's information blurb - just as long as the back cover didn't look TOO cluttered.

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dianapersaud

· #17 · Mar 19, 2015

I'm probably the only person in the world that doesn't have smart phone, so I can't access any of that stuff.

Are their links for the "poor" folks like me? Otherwise you might lose readers.

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G

· #18 · Mar 19, 2015

Your QR code can link to video trailers about you other books.
Or a video interview of you talking about why and how you write books.
Or short videos of readers who adore your books.
Or a cast of characters with their brief bios.
Etc., etc.

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Leanne King

· #19 · Mar 19, 2015

Question for the people already using them: are you getting meaningful, measurable traffic from them?

The only QR codes I've ever seen were on my tax bills

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Tuttle

· #20 · Mar 19, 2015

I'd have a QR code, I'd make sure what you link to is mobile friendly. I'd make sure what you link to is interesting to some degree. (I would absolutely not link to videos, because I'd plan on people scanning while on mobile data and videos use up data so fast.)

Linking to a particular page on your website, good use of a QR code. Linking to something that is a page of where you can buy this book you already have in your hand, bad use of a QR code. Linking to something that would give people more information that might interest them in buying more books of yours, good marketing. Linking to a thing which is just a list of your books (such as on amazon), irritating to have done, though having that be available off of a website which has more information is nice.

And really, they don't take up much space, and because of how they're made you can even draw pictures in them for extra cool stuff! They really are at this point something that people expect to see.

(As for the T-shirt QR codes, what I've seen is them down in the bottom "corner" of the shirt, so near your hip)

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