How to Engage Readers Using QR Codes on Publishing

More publishers and publishing houses have been looking for means to maximize their reach and drive readers’ engagement quickly and easily for the past several years. It has not been an easy feat because publishers had to do it from a readers’ point of view and not from theirs or potential buyers’. Technology advancements, such as social media and Kindle, did help a bit. But then again, how far could it get without actual reading experience? But, finally, we found effective ways to use QR Codes for publishing.

Yes, it is the simple, mostly ignored, and transformed edition of barcodes that can get publishers more reads and drive engagement with or without any investment. QR Codes are all over the place now. They are tremendously used as a competitive mobile technology to engage customers, provide a better experience, fight counterfeiting, and help customers pay. It can be used by all industry verticals, from manufacturing to media, from healthcare to education. 

Since anyone can scan a QR Code from their smartphone, publishers can redirect a reader from a printed book to an interactive online media in just a few seconds. 

Here’s how you can use QR Codes to redirect readers from books to digital content.

What could you provide them with similar content?

Books cannot provide all content; they come with several limitations, such as page count, book print type, content advertisement, and editing. It means an author has to let go of a lot of information for the final print. For instance, a writer cannot include a media clipping (interview or news coverage) that will help the reader to understand the story or cannot print a video clipping of chemical analysis for a student. But by placing a QR Code on the particular page instead, the publisher or author can redirect the reader to the media to enhance the reading experience. This would also boost the chance of readers’ returning to the publisher or author in the future. Adding QR codes on publishing is an excellent idea for students’ textbooks, magazines, and study guides.

Get readers to interact with authors on social media

Reading experience and interest in a particular book increase when the reader actively engages with the author of the book. Probably the ideal approach to do as such is through social media connection. You can add a social media QR Code with an engaging CTA that leads readers to the profile of their favorite author and get to know them better. While social media is a difficult digital medium for publishing companies, you can make it simple by bestowing readers with the power of commenting, sharing, and liking posts, as well as reviewing books. It will boost your digital presence and increase your brand credibility.

Provide audio content

Many readers prefer listening to reading. You can use QR Codes to provide readers with a great book listening experience by using an MP3 QR Code that will redirect the reader to a page having a built-in media player to play passages from the book. You can also use the QR Code to share whole audiobooks and provide more value with every purchase. 

Promote offers or other exciting reads

How can you make readers interested in other books written by different authors? The answer is QR Codes. A book generally contains the list of books created by that particular author only. But, as a publisher, you have to promote books by other authors too to boost sales and create demand. What you can do is add a QR Code along with a CTA (call to action) that redirects readers to best-selling books from other notable authors. This will increase exposure, as well as the opportunity for more purchases from your publication. 

QR codes on publishing-Promote events and other crucial information about you

QR Codes can effectively help readers access information about events and promotional activities, such as a famous author’s autograph session or press interview. You can add a QR Code on posters, ask viewers to scan it, download or bookmark the event link on the phone, and get the details whenever they want. You can embed the date, time, venue, and description of the author and the book. Moreover, you can also integrate the event with Google calendar so that the guest can save the event on their phone upon scanning.

Provide excerpts or short content of other books

Authors and even publishers can use QR Codes to promote their latest books. You can create a PDF file link containing the synopsis or the story’s first chapter and embed it in QR Code. It is like piquing the interest of the readers. They have to scan the code, save the PDF file, read it and, if interested, purchase the books. You can also provide another link where they can buy the book if they wish to finish it. QR codes on publishing can engage the consumers more with your books.

While the original design of the QR Code was simple black and white pixelate, QRCodeChimp allows you to develop colorful QR codes with your company logo in the center. If you need help in developing your code, connect with us in the comments below.