What's makes an author?

I recently downloaded an ebook I thought sounded interesting. The story indeed is interesting, but the errors, stilted dialogue, and predictable events leave me cringing at times. And the whole of it got me thinking. I would love the tale if the author had studied the craft of writing enough to construct good dialogue and had someone edit it, even just a little.

Writers can get published in today's world so easily, the ebook rush, the ease for someone to become their own publisher. That does not mean that all self-published folks are hack jobs, though.

I've studied writing since the early 1990s, spent my every waking moment juggling kids and one lesson book or another. I worked with instructors and then editors and if they had a suggestion or complaint, I studied until I understood what they were saying. I studied it until I knew it all inside and out. I even got bites from publishers and worked with more editors. But the changes they wanted in the characters and story lines, I just couldn't do. My books are not about the blood and gore (they have it, but I don't focus on it), they are about the characters and their hopes and dreams. I didn't want to turn the stories into every other book out there. Since I had the opportunity to learn publishing, I went out on my own. 

So are my books worth less than those published by Random House or Penguin? Some would still say yes, for certain. I say read one of my latest books before you make a judgment.