Writing a book is like kind of like cooking. You take all the ingredients - characters, setting, plot and put them together. A lot of people forget to add language, punctuation and editing which are also vital ingredients. And just because you add all of these ingredients together doesn't mean you have something edible.
When I wrote my first book, I edited it then asked friends to edit it as well. I had just declared bankruptcy and simply couldn't afford an editor, still can't. Getting a publisher would be best, but that seems impossible in this day and age.
2 months later, one of my friends gave me half of the book edited. She hadn't finished it and the other friend just never started, so I delved into it myself. This time I picked apart the language, wording and phrasing. I also did a lot of research as to the rules of the English language only to find out that it's one of the murkiest and most complicated languages out there.
Then I gave it to my wife who took pity on me even though it wasn't her genre and she was terrified of hurting my feelings. Her advice was wonderful and helped to improve the content of the story. I re-wrote chapter 1 and added a new chapter 2 as a result. During that time, I also gave it to another friend, not to edit, but just to read. At that point I wanted to know if the book was even basically readable. To my delight, she said she loved it. If she was lying I don't care.
*grin*
Then I went through it again and found more things that needed to be fixed and also realized that I had certain habits that needed to be broken as a writer.
Then I printed it out and read it yet again for consistency and smoothness. I found a few small things that needed to be ironed out, but it was good overall. I wasn't ashamed to release it.
Even after spending hundreds of hours editing the book, I still wish I had a professional editor to go over it. I have found that there are editing courses available that teach the profession of editing. At some point I hope to take one of the classes to improve my abilities and understanding of the job.
Indie writers seem kind of like anarchists if that makes any sense. We're just throwing work of various qualities out into the universe with no sense of organization. The good thing is that it's breaking traditional, stodgy ideas that choke creativity. The bad news is that you have to dig through the sludge to get to the gems.
I think there will be a compromise in the next few decades. The industry will meet somewhere inbetween the current indie writers and traditional publishers.