As writers, we live with our stories for a long time, from the moment we get the spark, through the daydreaming, brainstorm, planning and writing stages.  But it does mean we sometimes forget our readers don't know everything unless we show them. In this era of self-publishing, I have found that a good number of the self-published books I've read didn't really felt like completed, polished works.  Sometimes, people are so eager to be "published" that they aren't taking the time to really get into the meat of their manuscript.  They have potential, but just fall short. I am left asking questions throughout the entire book.