Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Is a QR card linked to the PDF of a book a good idea?

+1
−0

This is a publishing question. The idea is: someone with a smartphone gets the card, scans the QR code printed on it, and downloads the PDF of your book off the web. I would have thought that a PDF would be pretty hard to read on your average smartphone screen, but I'm told they are used very commonly for that purpose. A link to an ebook version would make more sense, or not?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/21629. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+1
−0

PDFs use a fixed layout that doesn't scale with the device or window size, so they're not as friendly for smaller screens. Some people do read PDFs on some phones, though -- some screens are pretty big and some people have good eyes and can read the small page. Also, some of your readers might be using tablets rather than phones.

However, I wouldn't make the QR code link to a PDF or an ebook. I'd make it link to a landing page -- a web page where you can include links to whatever download formats you like and say a little about your book. (These cards sound like marketing materials, so bridge that gap between "somebody handed me this QR code" and "I want to read this book".) If your needs change (e.g. new formats) you can just update that page. Someday it might even contain links to the sequel.

For one example of landing pages, look at the per-book pages in the Baen Free Library.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »