If you're an author or writer, you may have come across the social media platform Twitter and X. But have you heard of Bluesky before? 

Bluesky is the new social media platform which is aiding authors and writers for free worldwide. It was created by the team which was fired by Elon Musk from Twitter/X and is now a Musk-free zone for anyone who liked the old Twitter. 

Many old Tweeters are now meeting up here and also the BookToks (you know, the big book community from TikTok?) have all found their way to BlueSky. 

Bluesky has become big over the years and now has over 30 million users, making it an excellent platform for authors and writers to market our books. 

So how do I use this marvellous tool to get in front of new and old readers? First, you go to bsky.app and sign up to your free account. Before, you used to need an invitation code to be able to sign up, but this is no longer needed.

When you customize your profile page make sure it looks like it's made by a real human being, you'll get more likes and followers if you use your real name or pen name and a real picture of yourself.

After you've created your beautiful profile page and selected your interests as writers and books, please go into # or #Feeds. Scroll down and select pin to feed: BookSky, OnlyPosts, Writing Community, Writing and Books, Bsky Book Club, and, Queer Bookworms.

If you see more feeds that are book and writer related, feel free to pin them to your feeds. Don't follow any accounts though until you've set up your profile page properly. 

To set up your profile page properly, you go into Profile and press Edit Profile. Select a real photograph of you as an individual, select a banner where you advertise your latest book/s with pictures and where to buy the book/s or a random picture of books if you're unpublished. 

Write something like this in the information about you: "A book crazy author and writer who writes children's books. Mum, therapist, LGBTQIA+ friendly, anti-racist, book lover." If you don't want to be bombarded with PM's (private messages), write so in your personal information. Write, "Please, no PM."

I try to keep my posts free from politics and current affairs, just because this is a mine filled area that I personally can get wrong and make mistakes in. I also feel that everyone else is talking about politics and current affairs, therefore it's rather nice to come to a person who only talks about what's going on in her life, author life and about books. 

Now you can write your first post on Bluesky. Write something like, "Hi you, I'm new to BlueSky and I would love for you to follow me. I follow back!" Or, even better, "Hi fellow book lover, I'm new to BlueSky and I love to interact with fellow authors, writers and readers. I follow back! #WritingCommunity #BookSky"

As per usual with social media, videos create the most likes and views on Bluesky. Keep them short and add text, as most users will listen to them on mute. Be an active user on Bluesky, or don't use it at all. With active means that I visit the site once or twice a day and reply to ten, most or all posts. 

Now you're ready to follow people who have the same interests as you, and follow back those who follow you first. Go into the feeds and like, comment and share the posts which interests you. Follow people who look interesting. 

Have fun and remember, Bluesky is a lot like the old Twitter, but here the hashtags actually works! If you add a hashtag to the end of your post, like #WritingCommunity or/and #BookSky, know that your post will end up in those feeds so anyone who follow those feeds will be able to see your post. 

This way you get free access to your readers through Bluesky's feeds and can gain new readers. As per usual, nature, coffee and animal videos and photos get the most likes and comments on Bluesky. So make it into something fun.

I saw one author who wrote: "I know that you like my cat videos best, but to be able to feed my cat, I need to sell books. Buy my book if you like similar books to Stephen King's!" 

Make sure that every tenth post is an add for your book/s, or a post about your author life if you're unpublished. Be real and authentic online but don't be a d**k, and people will treat you better. Use smileys to your advantage, where smiley faces and hearts add to the good vibes online. 

Good luck with building your author platform on Bluesky!