Platform vs. Audience
What's the difference?
Authors are constantly told to build our platforms. We hear that everywhere from marketers trying to sell us services to agents telling us that they want to know about our platform before we have a hope of having a deal. We are also told that platform is not the same as audience or social media following.
So what the hell is it?
Keep in mind, of course, that this is my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Other people might have other theories about what this means, so by all means think about it and explore it in other places! However… you’re here on my blog, so I figure you want to know my thoughts!
What Is Platform?
Platform is basically the infrastructure. It’s your newsletter, social media presence, blog, website… it’s your digital nest where people can locate you and get in touch. That is a necessary element for anyone looking to build a career. The number of people following it is not a reflection of the platform, exactly, but it’s the infrastructure. Deciding what social media spaces you want to occupy, having a newsletter of some kind at all that you regularly engage with, and so on.
It’s all about finding the correct mixture of elements for you and dedicating to what works. This takes time to figure out, too.
I’m on social media across the board. Whenever I find a new one, I make an account with my usual handle (@ehprybylski) so I can occupy that digital real estate, and nobody can impersonate me. This is a good practice. Keeping your username consistent across platforms is also a good plan if you can make it happen. It may not be doable, but it’s worth making the effort.
However.
I do not use many of the social media platforms I have accounts on. I technically have a Tumblr, but I’ve never really found that platform comfortable for me. I technically have Threads and Bluesky, but… I almost never use them. Most of my activity is on Instagram and TikTok. And here, of course. I use LinkedIn for my editing services, but not my fiction. I also have my author website and my editing website.
All of that together is my platform. It’s the infrastructure I’ve built for letting folks know I exist. Now, I’m not going to pretend it’s the best platform ever. Frankly, I have solid infrastructure, but I don’t do enough with it because I’ve been pulled in too many directions. So… do as I say, not as I do. The study is there, but my execution is lacking due to, frankly, my disabilities and real life causing me headaches.
Who’s Your Audience?
Your audience are the people who want your content. My audience? It’s you. And it’s people like you. Since I write both fiction and non-fiction, I do need to qualify—you’re my non-fiction audience, mostly. Though you might like my fiction if you like angels, demons, magic and murder on the streets of supernatural Boston.
For you, you need to think about who would like your books? The best way for me to do this is likely to give an example, and since you’re here for my non-fiction stuff, let’s talk about my non-fiction audience.
What qualities do I think my non-fiction audience has? Well…
Between the ages of 25 and 45
New authors
Writers hoping to be authors but who haven’t quite gotten there yet (or haven’t really found success)
Folks who aren’t extremely experienced in publishing and are looking for reliable voices to guide them
Industry professionals who like the cut of my jib and how I communicate things they tend to know already
People who are cool with queerness, neurodivergence, and all my various identities
People for whom hard-selling is stressful and overwhelming
Individuals for whom traditional writing advice doesn’t seem to work or folks who find a lot of the industry voices grating and are looking for a gentler hand who isn’t focused on selling them things
Marginalized creatives (particularly those who are LGBTQIA+, disabled, and/or neurodivergent)
People who are inclined to think deeply about content rather than following the zeitgeist and appreciate a more measured, moderate approach to things like AI rather than bombastic yelling
I could go on and on because I actually have done a fair bit of analysis of who my audience is over the years. While you are likely not going to be a perfect fit for this description (you will likely have at least a few different characteristics than that list!), I bet you likely may fall on that list somewhere and see elements of yourself there.
Identifying your audience is like what I did above. You think about who might enjoy your work—whatever work that is—and consider how to reach them. That is the core of it. Bring your audience to your platform (or choose a location they already hang out) and tadaaaaah! You have the two together.
Why They Need To Know
Once you have that overlap between platform (infrastructure) and audience, you can start really making mustard. Or whatever someone who’s not 80 would say. Uh. Something with rizz and 6-7 and… I don’t know, I’m old. I know it. Still. Let’s just move past that and into the results: sales.
Agents and publishers want to know about your platform and audience for two reasons. First, they want to make sure that you actually are serious about the business of book publishing. When I ran a trad publishing company and worked in the space, I consistently ran into the difficulty of people who wrote gorgeous books and couldn’t market their way out of a paper bag. They wouldn’t so much as claim their Amazon author page, and I could not do that work for them.
As much as I love creatives, and I do, there’s a huge gap between people who write well and people who write well and can handle the work of publishing/market/platform building. Marketing and publishing are not easy things to pick up and do, and the things that make an amazing writer often make a truly abysmal marketer. This is unfortunate, but it’s true. And unless someone has the money to hire folks to market for them (publishers will help with marketing, but they will not hire you a personal assistant), the brilliant, creative minds whose prose sings off the page often never sell a copy. It’s a disgusting tragedy, and I hate it, but it’s true.
The second reason agents and publishers want to know about a platform is because they want to know about your book and about you and what you’re doing. They’ll look at your platform, look at your work, and figure out who you are before they move forward with you. Knowing where you’re at and what you understand and who you are is useful to them.
Lastly, they aren’t just judging your follower count.
If you have 10,000 followers on a platform (I’m at 7,600 on TikTok, for example), but they aren’t all your audience who are buying your book, then those followers aren’t an accurate measurement of your effectiveness.
That’s not to say that big numbers aren’t cool. They are! However, if not every one of those people is buying your product/service then you are only doing so much with them, and not everyone who enjoys seeing your content will buy your book.
However, the key is finding enough of your audience who want to buy your books and directing them to your platform where they can continue to engage. Cultivating your relationship between your audience and your infrastructure is a key and necessary element of your work. That’s why everyone says consistency of engagement is important.
What This Means For You
If you’re just starting out, I’d spend time exploring what various options exist. Figure out what social media is your preferred stomping ground. Find a place to do some long-form writing, test short-form video and long-form video. All of these things are valuable. You don’t need to worry about views and followers yet. Find out the methods and places that are the best for you. Whatever you do, I advise at least the following three pillars:
At least one social media platform you engage with regularly
A newsletter of some kind (whether here, Ghost, MailerLite, or other platforms)
An author website
How you go about building them and figuring out what platform(s) work for you is fully in your corner. Your author website could start as a Carrd or Linktree and nothing more complex if you want. Whatever you do, you’ll want some kind of hub that you can send people to as their primary landing zone when they interact with you at an event or want to learn more about you.
Your social media… like I said. Find one (or several) you like and practice engaging on them regularly. This engagement might start by making comments on others’ content and connecting with people rather than posting a lot, yourself. Whatever the method is, you can find a platform or two that you like and get comfortable there.
The newsletter thing you can develop over time and find a platform that works for you. I have MailerLite which, if I’m honest, I don’t use much at all and ought to start, and I have here, which I’ve been putting a lot of effort into.
Ultimately, whatever unholy concoction of methods you like, you can make work for you. However, I strongly suggest that whatever platform you use as your newsletter is one that you can get your email list off of in case that platform goes down or you decide to migrate elsewhere. That does sometimes happen, and owning your email list is of vital importance.
Once you’ve got your infrastructure (platform) set up, you can start putting things up to connect with your audience. Like this post, for example. Or my content on TikTok, or pet photos on IG. Whatever it is appeals to you, you can start finding ways to connect with your people and let them know your platform exists. That’s how you make connection to readers and fans, and that’s how you cultivate your audience.
Last bit, since you know I love a metaphor:
Your platform is your garden; your audience are your plants. You have to prepare the garden first by tilling the soil, ensuring it has the right PH, the right sun exposure, and all that. Then you plant things in it. You water the plants, attend to them, weed them, and show them care. If you combine the two right, you have a harvest. If you have one without the other, you end up with nothing. So… congrats, I guess you’re all my zucchini now. Or something. I don’t know, I’ll workshop that some.
If any of this feels like a lot, that's because it is. You don't have to have your platform figured out tomorrow. If you're still earlier in the process and just trying to get the book written, How to Write the Damn Book was written for where you’re at. If the draft exists but the publishing side feels like a maze with a minotaur in it, How to Publish the Damn Book gives you useful insight into how to navigate that. You can get ask your library to get them if you don’t have the yen to buy them yourself! They’re available there, too.