What is a QR reader?

Thank you to everyone who voted on the front page poll. The final results are as follows:

What is a QR reader? - 52.83%
No, I don't have a QR reader - 32.08%
Yes, I do have a QR reader - 15.09%
Total 53 votes.

You've probably seen something like this before. In fact these little darlings are all over the place. They're called QR codes or Quick Response codes and I first became aware of their usefulness when I was looking for a new house. A For Sale sign had one printed on it so I pointed my QR reader (a free app on my phone) at the code and a few seconds later, I had the price of the house and all the estate agent's details in the palm of my hand. 
Forgive me, but - how cool is that??
If you do have a reader and hover it over the QR code above, it will take you straight to the CreativeWritingMatters Home page, but please, do come back here. So...the question is, what has this got to do with creative writing? Answer: nothing at all.
My interest in it is almost entirely mercenary. 
As you are probably aware, publishing is enjoying a revolution. Although I love print books, I find myself increasingly buying my everyday reading on Kindle. 
CreativeWritingMatters has now published two titles on Kindle and is set to do more, (The Creative Writing Student's Workbook is in the pipeline) but there are downsides with ebooks. You can't sign one or give one as a present. You haven't got a 'thing' to sell at a launch or literary event and with nearly three million books on Kindle, maintaining sales is a challenge that will face every author.
Before I put up the poll, I thought a QR code on a postcard or bookmark might be a good idea (actually I still think it is), as reading it could take you to information about the book or its Amazon page in exactly the same way as the estate agent's code led me to their site.
The poll results, however, reveal how few would be able to do that, so I won't build up my hopes! Whether or not, we all become QR code savvy in a few years remains to be seen. 


In the meantime, let's get back to writing! It's the flashy time of year. Thunder storms and very short stories. Do enter the flash competition - it doesn't close until the end of August, so  plenty of time. Go HERE

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