I usually direct my posts to teachers and parents, but today I have a little trick especially for authors that fellow Emblazoner Lois Brown shared with me some time ago. I’ve made good use of it.

We all know the value of creating bookmarks and business cards. A powerful image, a microblurb, an author name, and a website. Those pretty little slips of paper are an effective and inexpensive way to tease would-be readers into checking out our books. And they’re inoffensive. People actually like getting them.

Adding a QR code makes these already great tools even better. You’ve seen them. Theyr’e the funky little black and white blocks that can be scanned by phones and tablets to access a website directly. I slapped one on the back of my business card and it takes viewers directly to my website. The ones on the back of my bookmarks take readers directly to that book’s listing on Amazon. I’ve even thought about putting one in the back pages of my paperbacks, just haven’t done it yet.

So how do you do it? Super easy! There are many QR generator sites on the web. My favorite is a generic looking, simple-to-use site called “QR Code Generator“. (Clever, eh?) All you do is type the full URL for your landing page into the text box provided (for example, http://www.emblazoners.com), and a QR code will automatically be generated. Click download and you’ve got an image you can add to anything you want. Make sure you label it and save it where you can find it again. The QR Code Generator website will not save it for later retrieval.

So now you have a new weapon in your marketing arsenal. Can you think of any other creative ways to wield it?

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Michelle Isenhoff‘s life is a balance between responsibilities and children’s literature. She’s usually irresponsible.