Selling e-books using QR codes on printed material
When I was preparing for RNConvention, I kept wishing there was a way to sell my e-books at the book fair. So I started Googling and asking other authors if this was possible. The information I found on selling e-books at book fairs was pretty vague, but it all came down to something called a QR CODE.
I had no idea what a QR code was, so I Googled that too. Then I felt silly, because I've been seeing these strange square box thingies on products and signs for months. Maybe years. I'm not sure how long they've been around.
Behold, the QR code:
Do you recognize it? If not, go into your kitchen then and start pulling out cereal boxes and other packaged food items. Look at your stack of mail, especially advertisements. It's everywhere!
Anyway, from what I could tell, it seemed authors who wanted to pimp their e-books at books fairs placed QR codes on business cards or postcards. Then technology savvy readers use the QR code app on their smartphone to scan the author's QR code and end up on said author's website (or to whatever website the QR code is linked to). Lots of people use their phones to buy e-books, so in theory the reader might even click to buy while they're standing there talking to you. Pretty cool, huh?
So I generated a QR code that linked to the book page on my website, and placed it on some postcards and business cards. I confess, I felt very smart for figuring this out.
When I went to RNConvention, I paid attention to all the other authors' swag and business cards and such. Guess what? I noticed QR codes as far as the eye could see. So I felt silly for not having figured this whole QR code thing out sooner, and silly for spending way too much time researching and stressing over something that ended up being very simple. Oh well. I'm QR code savvy now too, and I have a QR code app on my iPhone just like all the cool kids.
How to sell e-books with a QR code:
1. Figure out which website you'd like your QR code to link to, whether it's your author website or even your Amazon author page.
2. Find a free QR code generator online. There are dozens. I used QR Stuff. Now generate that QR code using the website you picked.
3. Save the little pic of the QR code you generated in a safe place on your computer.
4. Slap that QR code anywhere you think readers will notice it. Business cards. Postcards. Brochures. Anything. I used Vistaprint for my postcards and business cards, and I think they turned out pretty good.
5. Download a free QR reader on your smartphone so you can be one of the cool kids too. You can also use it to double check to make sure the QR code you generated is working. I used "QRReader" on my iPhone and found it very easy to use.
Here's a picture of my postcards:
I tried tracking clicks on Blogger to see if I had any traffic from my postcards, but I haven't been able to tell. I've seen some strange clicks lately and I can't tell where they are coming from, so who knows? Even though I'm not sure if it made a difference in clicks or sales, I'll still pass out postcards like this at any future author/reader events I attend. Might as well cover as many promo bases as I can.
I had no idea what a QR code was, so I Googled that too. Then I felt silly, because I've been seeing these strange square box thingies on products and signs for months. Maybe years. I'm not sure how long they've been around.
Behold, the QR code:
Do you recognize it? If not, go into your kitchen then and start pulling out cereal boxes and other packaged food items. Look at your stack of mail, especially advertisements. It's everywhere!
Anyway, from what I could tell, it seemed authors who wanted to pimp their e-books at books fairs placed QR codes on business cards or postcards. Then technology savvy readers use the QR code app on their smartphone to scan the author's QR code and end up on said author's website (or to whatever website the QR code is linked to). Lots of people use their phones to buy e-books, so in theory the reader might even click to buy while they're standing there talking to you. Pretty cool, huh?
So I generated a QR code that linked to the book page on my website, and placed it on some postcards and business cards. I confess, I felt very smart for figuring this out.
When I went to RNConvention, I paid attention to all the other authors' swag and business cards and such. Guess what? I noticed QR codes as far as the eye could see. So I felt silly for not having figured this whole QR code thing out sooner, and silly for spending way too much time researching and stressing over something that ended up being very simple. Oh well. I'm QR code savvy now too, and I have a QR code app on my iPhone just like all the cool kids.
How to sell e-books with a QR code:
1. Figure out which website you'd like your QR code to link to, whether it's your author website or even your Amazon author page.
2. Find a free QR code generator online. There are dozens. I used QR Stuff. Now generate that QR code using the website you picked.
3. Save the little pic of the QR code you generated in a safe place on your computer.
4. Slap that QR code anywhere you think readers will notice it. Business cards. Postcards. Brochures. Anything. I used Vistaprint for my postcards and business cards, and I think they turned out pretty good.
5. Download a free QR reader on your smartphone so you can be one of the cool kids too. You can also use it to double check to make sure the QR code you generated is working. I used "QRReader" on my iPhone and found it very easy to use.
Here's a picture of my postcards:
I tried tracking clicks on Blogger to see if I had any traffic from my postcards, but I haven't been able to tell. I've seen some strange clicks lately and I can't tell where they are coming from, so who knows? Even though I'm not sure if it made a difference in clicks or sales, I'll still pass out postcards like this at any future author/reader events I attend. Might as well cover as many promo bases as I can.
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