What somebody likes or doesn't is entirely subjective. To make matters worse, plot, story and character are esoteric concepts to most readers. The only things readers can usually relate to us writers is whether or not they liked it. Half the time being unable to tell us why something worked or it didn't. It's damned frustrating.
Some people grit it out.
They work in a vacuum, sending material out and getting rejection slips back. If they're lucky one of those extraordinarily nice editors will tell them what they did wrong and provide some encouragement. In the final analysis you are essentially alone unless you search out people who are both willing and skillful enough to help you improve. A writing group. You will hear them cursed and praised alternately even interchangably by published authors.