Would anybody have any useful tips how to build my poetry audience?

[Milieu]

"Publishers are not interested in writers unless they have at least a reasonable audience"

What are you basing this on? Publishers are interested in good work, and good work that can sell. Are you publishing in magazines, journals, 'zines? . How many books of poetry have you purchased in the last year? How many journals do you subscribe to? What do you do to advocate for poetry in your community, to make a market, to cause interest? To build an audience you have to interact, you have to put yourself out there, do you have a venue? If not how do you create one? Are you involved in writer/art groups in your community? How do you become involved? How accessible is your work? Are you writing it for yourself or an audience?