Add a QR Code to Your Book
Let readers access bonus content, author notes, audio samples, discussion guides, or related resources with one scan. Dynamic GetQR codes let you update the destination later without reprinting books.
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How Publishers and Authors Use QR Codes in Books
From back covers and chapter pages to dust jackets and study guides, see how QR codes extend the reading experience beyond the printed page.
Why Put a QR Code in a Book?
A printed book is fixed the day it goes to press. Links in the text go out of date, author events pass, and related resources get replaced. A QR code gives readers a direct way to open a bonus chapter, audio sample, discussion guide, or resource page without typing a long address from the page. With a dynamic GetQR code, you can change the destination later, so the printed code doesn’t have to change when the content behind it does.
Add Content Beyond the Printed Page
Link to bonus chapters, deleted scenes, extended notes, worksheets, or printable companions that did not fit in the print edition, without adding pages to the book.
Update Resources Without a New Edition
New interview, updated reading list, or broken link? Update the QR code destination from your GetQR account. Copies already printed and shipped can continue to open the current page.
Support Classrooms and Book Clubs
Send readers to discussion questions, reading guides, teaching resources, or practice exercises. Teachers and book club hosts can open them from the book without searching for the publisher’s website.
Give Readers a Way to Reach the Author
Link to an author page, newsletter signup, or events page. Readers who want more can open it from the book and choose whether to subscribe or attend.
Compare Scans Across Titles and Editions
Use separate QR codes for different titles, editions, or placements such as the back cover, a chapter opening, and a resources page, and compare their scan activity in your GetQR dashboard. Scan counts show how often each code is opened, not what readers do afterward.
Features Built for Authors and Publishers
Create QR codes that match your cover and interior design, change their destination after printing, and track scan activity from your GetQR dashboard. Use them on covers, jackets, chapter pages, and study guides.
Change the page behind your QR code, such as a bonus chapter, study guide, author page, or events page, from your dashboard without reprinting the book. Printed codes can continue to open the updated destination.
Match your cover colors, add a small logo, and include subtle frame text such as “Scan for Bonus Content.” Keep the code dark on a light background so it stays easy to scan on covers and interior pages.
See how often each QR code is scanned and review scan activity over time. Use separate codes for different titles or editions and compare their scan counts.
Download your QR code as SVG, EPS, PDF, PNG, or JPG. Use SVG or EPS for cover and interior artwork that needs to print sharply, or a high-resolution PDF or PNG for InDesign and other layout tools.
Create separate QR codes for hardcover, paperback, or educational editions and manage them from one GetQR dashboard, so each edition stays linked to the right destination.
Add a QR Code to a Book in Three Steps
Choose a destination, style the code, and export a print-ready file in three steps.
6 Smart Ways to Use QR Codes in Books
Ideas for trade books, cookbooks, children’s books, textbooks, and workbooks.
Bonus Chapters and Extras
Offer deleted scenes, an extended epilogue, author notes, or a printable companion that did not fit in the print run. Swap in new material later without a new edition.
Discussion and Study Guides
Give book clubs and classrooms discussion questions, reading guides, and teaching resources. Put the code on a resources page at the back of the book, where readers who want them will look.
Audio and Video Companions
Link to an audiobook sample, an author reading, or a technique video, such as a cookbook step, a craft demonstration, or a children’s read-aloud, so readers can listen or watch alongside the printed page.
Updated Links and Answer Keys
Nonfiction, travel, and textbook titles go out of date. Point the code to an updated resource list, corrections page, or answer key, and replace it as information changes without waiting for a reprint.
Author Newsletter and Events
Link to the author’s website, newsletter signup, or upcoming events. Tour dates and appearances change often, and the QR code can keep pointing to the current page.
Series Pages and Next Reads
At the end of the book, send readers to the next title in the series, a reading-order page, or a review page, while they are finishing the book and thinking about what to read next.
Manage Book Codes Across Titles and Editions
Give each title, edition, or format its own QR code and manage them from one GetQR dashboard. Update destinations as bonus content, resources, and event details change, without reprinting copies that are already in stores and homes.
Book QR Code Print Tips
Use Strong Contrast
Place a dark QR code on a light, solid background. Avoid printing it over cover artwork, photographs, or tinted pages.
Size It for the Reader’s Hands
Make the code large enough to scan comfortably when the book is held at normal reading distance. Test at the final printed size rather than relying on a fixed measurement.
Keep the Quiet Zone Clear
Leave an empty margin on all four sides of the code. Keep text, images, the spine, the gutter, and trim edges out of this space, and don’t place the code where the page curves into the binding.
Prefer Vector or High-Resolution Files
Export SVG, EPS, or press-ready PDF where possible so the code stays sharp on both covers and interior pages. Avoid low-resolution PNG or JPG files.
Test on the Final Stock and Finish
Print a proof on the actual cover material or paper and scan it with several phones. Avoid foil, heavy embossing, or high-gloss lamination directly over the code, since glare and texture can interfere with scanning.
Add a Clear Label
Use short text such as “Scan for Bonus Content” or “Scan for the Discussion Guide” next to the code. The label should describe what readers will actually see.
See What GetQR Users Have to Say
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Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about QR codes in books.
Yes, if you use a dynamic GetQR code. You can update the destination from your dashboard at any time. The printed code stays the same, and future scans open the new page.
Common choices include bonus chapters, discussion guides, author pages, newsletter signups, audio and video samples, answer keys, and series pages. Link to the specific page you want readers to see rather than a general homepage.
It can, if contrast is strong and the code is large enough. Texture, gloss, foil, and embossing can interfere with scanning, so keep them off the code area and test a printed proof on the actual cover material.
Yes. You can create a separate QR code for each hardcover, paperback, or educational edition and manage them from your GetQR dashboard. Separate codes also let you compare scan activity between editions.
Yes. Dynamic GetQR codes show how many times each code is scanned and when. GetQR tracks the scan itself; it doesn’t show what readers do on the destination page, such as whether they sign up or finish a guide.
Use SVG or EPS if your printer or layout software accepts vector files, since they stay sharp at any size. A press-ready PDF or a high-resolution PNG also works. Ask your printer which format they prefer.
Common placements include the back cover, the inside front or back cover, chapter openings, and a resources page. Leave clear space around the code, keep it away from the spine and gutter, and add a short label so readers know what to expect.
There is no single size that works for every book. Make the code large enough to scan comfortably at normal reading distance, and print a proof at the final size to test it with more than one phone before the full print run.
With a dynamic GetQR code, you can point the printed code to the new page from your dashboard instead of reprinting. If the code links directly to a page that no longer exists and you don’t update it, scans will land on an error page.
No. Most modern iPhone and Android cameras scan QR codes without a separate app. Readers open the camera and point it at the code.