There may be a stigma attached to self-published books. Some people may judge them as lower in quality than books published by traditional publishers.
This prejudice may lead to faulty judgments about some books. Imagine that a person got a Ph.D. from a first-rate university and decided to publish his or her own books. The person has a significant number of published articles in scholarly journals. In this case, the person can be viewed as highly intelligent and competent. Moreover, it can be argued that some people who self-publish their own books may be highly motivated to achieve a high level of quality. They may strongly desire to sell their books. They could possibly spend a significant amount of time revising the books that they self-publish. Thus, some authors may have the ability and motivation to produce a self-published book that could be as high or higher in quality that books published by traditional publishers.
There are some ways that authors of self-published books could improve their books. These include making their books more concise, original, and beneficial to society.
Conciseness
One of the things that I strongly dislike about most books is that they seem to contain too many words. There is only so much that a reader is going to remember. Using too many words may be a waste of the reader’s time. Also, using too many words may result in the reader being confused about what the basic message is. It may be best to make the main ideas in the book stand out. In other words, it would be good to present the ideas in as few words as possible. You only may need one or two examples to clearly convey certain ideas. Moreover, not all ideas in a book may be equally important. Thus, it may be best to omit ideas that are less essential to the overall message in the book.
Originality
In my view, a large percentage of books lack sufficient originality. We need more books with really novel ideas and stories. Books should not be just a spin-off of other stories or ideas. They should have some ideas or concepts that are completely new. Wow! This is what readers should be saying about a book. And I think a book really needs fresh ideas to create that impression.
Contribution to Society
In my view, the exceptional writer does more than entertain readers. The exceptional writer provides important insights that may benefit society. If you are writing a novel, you could strive to think of ways you could create a story that would have educational benefits. What are some positive messages? What courses could use the book? These are important questions that need to be addressed when writing a novel.
Nonfiction books could also be improved by providing possible solutions to important problems. The ideas need to have a cogent rationale and be based on scientific evidence, if available.