I had the recent experience of attending an author book fair. It was my first one, and it was a great experience. I didn't sell many books, but that wasn't what the experience was all about for me. It was the networking and comradery that comes with meeting other authors.
I got to walk around and talk to many people, and get their experiences with writing, marketing, and publishing. I listened to different story pitches and saw a lot of really nice tables set up. Everyone had something free you could take away, like bookmarks, candy, or pens. You could go to the event, not spend a dollar and walk away with some fun swag.
What I really enjoyed was listening to the other authors experiences. Some of them were new to writing and others have been writing for years. One author must have had twenty books on her stand and others only had one or two books. Some of the books were huge, epic stories, and others were shorter novellas. It didn't matter, because we were all there together as people who share a passion for writing.
A good rule of writing is to read a lot. Reading helps you to understand plot, character development, story structure. After today, I think it's just as important for writers to meet with other writers. Share experiences. Share ideas. Share tips and tricks. Everyone was very supportive of each other. One author I spoke with doesn't like romance, which is what I write, but she shared words of encouragement and congratulations on what I have accomplished. That felt good. And I share that with other authors. I might not like every genre, but I know the years of hard work and dedication to the craft of writing to accomplish even just one book, so well done!