QR Codes for Books & Authors
The last page should ask for the review. Yours can.
The reader who just finished your book is the most valuable person in your publishing funnel, and the printed page traditionally lets them walk away. A QR code on the final page catches them: one scan opens your Amazon or Goodreads review link while the ending still resonates. Inside the cover, a code unlocks bonus content - deleted scenes, the playlist, the map in full color - which doubles as a mailing-list magnet. At signings and fairs, the table code sells signed copies direct. Print runs are forever; dynamic codes mean the links inside them don't have to be.
Why use a dynamic QR code for this
Reviews at the final page
The scan happens at peak emotional investment - the moment readers actually write reviews.
Bonus content builds your list
Extras behind an email gate turn one-time readers into launch-day buyers for the next book.
Links that outlive the print run
Book 2 comes out? Repoint the code in book 1's back matter at the new preorder page - even in copies sold years ago.
How to set it up
- 1
Set up your review link, bonus page, or store link
- 2
Generate dynamic QR codes in QRmkr for the back matter, cover flap, and event table
- 3
Repoint back-matter codes as new books launch - the whole backlist cross-sells
Before you print it
If your authors & books code may ever need to point somewhere else, create it as a dynamic QR code you can edit after printing. The printed pattern never changes; only the destination behind it does. It also means you can track every scan by day, device, and location and see which placement actually worked.
Authors & books FAQ
Does Amazon allow direct review links?
Linking to your book's review page is standard practice - what's prohibited is incentivizing or conditioning reviews. "Enjoyed it? A review helps enormously" with a code is fine.
What bonus content works best?
Whatever extends the world: annotated chapters, maps, character art, the writing playlist. Gate it behind a newsletter signup and the backlist becomes a list-building machine.
Where in the book should the code go so it does not read like an advert?
The back of the last page and the inside back cover are the two that work, because the reader has finished and is looking for what comes next. Give it a line of context in your own voice rather than a bare square, something like a note about the deleted scenes or a request for a review. Print it around 2 x 2 cm, dark on the paper stock with a clear white margin, so it reads at reading distance.
Can one printed code cover the audiobook, the ebook and foreign editions?
A code has one destination at a time, so the workable version is to point it at a page you control that lists every edition and retailer. That way a new translation or an audiobook release is a page edit, not a new print run. If you later want the code to go somewhere else entirely, a dynamic code can be repointed even though the paperback is already on shelves.
Will this code still work next year?
Static codes never expire; they encode your link directly and don't depend on us. Dynamic codes keep redirecting for as long as your account is active, and you can re-point them whenever the destination moves.
General questions about how QR codes work, what they cost and how to print them are answered on the QR code FAQ.
Ready to create your authors & books code?
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