Ten Things Indie Writers Should NOT Do

By Dean Wesley Smith. (But I don't agree.)
First bit of advice from Smith: BIG author name.

BIG disagreement. What's the purpose of a big author name? Same as everything else on the cover: To sell books. Why does a BIG author name sell books? If your name is Stephen King, the answer is obvious. But what if your name is not Stephen King? Wesley would tell you that the reason, in that case, for your name writ large is to sell the readers of THIS book on your NEXT book. Fair enough. But what if you're writing a series of James Bond or Harry Potter books? Isn't what matters, in such a case, is to have the reader understand that the second, third (etc) book is a continuation of the first book? And isn't that best accomplished by a continuity of the style of the book's design, and a big CHARACTER name, rather than the author's name?

An exception to every rule. Glad to puncture this old and rarely-examined canard. Remainder of this otherwise-excellent list here and here.