My question is, is there a better way to fix the cable like hot glue on the crimp to help hold it together like on the drives.

If it works after squishing it with the books, and if you're sure you don't have one of the other problems listed in the "no hard disk found" FAQ entry, then you probably don't need a new cable or any better crimping, it will most likely be just fine as-is.

If you want to make sure the cable sticks to the disk drive itself without coming undone, then you can hot-glue it as illustrated in the drive upgrade guide. But that's a different issue than the crimp on the connector.