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How to Use QR Codes in Your Books

QR codes have allowed many businesses to offer better experiences to their users, yet the book industry has been slower to adopt them.

With QR code scans skyrocketing 433% from 2021 to 2025, they’re an easy way for authors to meaningfully connect with readers, grow their following, and improve the reader experience. 


Quilltips makes it easy to benefit from this technology. Get your book QR code now or continue reading below to find out:

  • What is a QR code?

  • QR code use in the publishing industry

  • How QR codes benefit authors

  • How to create QR codes for your books

What Is a QR Code?

A QR code is a two-dimensional matrix barcode consisting of black-and-white squares encoded with data. The “QR” stands for Quick Response, an appropriate name because the data encoded can quickly be accessed by using a smartphone to scan the QR code image. 


One of the main advantages of QR codes is that they are a quick and easy way to bridge offline content with the digital world. As a result of contactless restaurant menus becoming prevalent during COVID, most of readers know how to scan QR codes: 

  • Open the camera app on your smartphone.

  • Point your camera at the QR code, ensuring the entire code is clearly visible within the frame. (Do not take a photo.)

  • When the notification pops up, tap the link to be redirected to the associated website.


QR Code vs. Barcode: What’s the Difference?

The publishing industry has long used barcodes—the rectangular set of lines that are scanned at checkout in retail stores — as part of the retailer’s inventory management system. Barcodes typically need specialized hardware or software to scan and don’t have much additional functionality beyond identifying particular books and communicating ISBN numbers. 


QR codes, on the other hand, contain significantly more data—4,269  alphanumeric characters vs. barcodes’ 100 alphanumeric characters. And, because they are so easily scanned with a smartphone, they can be used for payment processing, URLs, virtual contact cards, MP3s, and more. 


Here is a real-word example of barcodes vs. QR codes in action:


QR Code Use in the Publishing Industry

Although 87% of U.S. businesses—from Hershey’s to Nike—are integrating QR codes into their marketing strategies, the book publishing industry has been, as Publisher’s Weekly put it, “slow” to adopt QR code use. With a growing trend of readers purchasing ebooks and audiobooks, publishers may be investing more into those technologies than in developing innovative content for QR codes on their physical books.


QR codes can benefit publishers in a number of ways, though, including:

  • Increasing reader engagement

  • Adding interactive content to the book

  • Facilitating more user-friendly access for individuals with vision impairment, reading disabilities, are more

  • Improving analytics

  • Cross-selling products

How QR Codes Benefit Authors

The lack of QR adoption in book publishing can be advantageous to savvy authors. When an author takes ownership of QR code generation, they determine how it’s used.


Quilltips is empowering authors by offering QR codes that enable them to receive:

  • Monetary tips from readers who have bought the book new or used

  • Messages directly from readers when they are sitting down with the book

  • Email list sign-ups

  • Author website or profile engagement

  • Social media follower growth

  • Valuable engagement metrics

When to Add QR Codes to Books

Traditionally published authors can coordinate with their editor to add QR codes to their book jacket, About the Author page, or anywhere else in their book. 


Self-published authors working with a cover or interior designer should discuss the inclusion of a QR code when they provide design instructions. However, if the book has already been published online and is printed on demand or is an ebook, it is often possible to negotiate a small redesign fee to include it in a second edition. 


If the book is already printed or not part of a print-on-demand program, there are a few alternatives for QR code book marketing:

  • Print it on stickers that are affixed to the book

  • Include it on bookmarks tucked into the book

  • Print it on paper stock that is added as a book insert 

How to Create a QR Code for Books

Quilltips is your one-stop QR code maker, enabling you to create a QR code online quickly and easily—without the need for any specialized knowledge. 

3 Steps to Generating a QR Code with Quilltips

  1. Sign up for a Quilltips account, completing the short Stripe onboarding process so that you can receive payments

  2. Purchase a QR code from Quilltips

  3. Download the QR code we custom generate for you


Each QR code is embedded with information specific to your work, so if you have written multiple works, follow the above steps to create separate QR codes for each work.  

Where to Place Your QR Code

Once you have your QR code, you can pass it along to your editor or cover designer for placement in a high-visibility part of your book:

  • Back cover: Placing the QR code on the lower half of the back cover offers prime visibility without interfering with the description, blurbs, barcode, or ISBN.

  • About the Author: Engaged readers are likely to read the About the Author, priming them to scan the QR code. 

  • Title page: If you don’t have space for the QR code on your book jacket and don’t have an About the Author section in your book, adding the QR code to your book’s title page is another option. 


After QR code placement, scan it with your smartphone to ensure it works properly with your design. 


You can also include the QR code or the link to your Quilltips page directly on your website and social media accounts.

Get a Quilltips QR Code for Your Book

Ready to get started? Get your Qulltips QR code here so you can begin receiving monetary tips and growing your audience.