@gremaure If you go Kindle Unlimited, that means you have to be 100% exclusive to the Zon Empire. Possibly including samples on your website. I personally recommend against it; use Draft2Digital or Smashwords + Amazon *not* exclusive.

You'll probably get most of your sales from the Zon, but you'll pick up some from NeverAmazon folks too.

Make sure you've got decent grammar/punctuation editing. Beta-readers may suffice if you're lucky & get a pedantic English Major w/good grades.

@gremaure Use at least an email contract for art if you're not getting stock art. Some artists may have their own contracts -- read & get clarifications in writing if you don't understand something.

If you're both new at it, at least lay out what you want to use the art for & what the artist will want to do with the art. If something terrible happens & you have their Awful Cousin taking over their stuff, you'll need a Written Understanding for legal.

@gremaure Same for anything where you're using someone else's work; assume that 1 or you will die suddenly & you or they will have to deal with an incompetent or malicious heir. Formal contract best, but a clear statement of intent can only help if lawyers & judges get involved.

(This applies with tradpub or small press contracts, too. Always clarify, make sure malice can't eff you over. Even if you trust the other party, do you trust Cousin Malice?)

@gremaure Even as a self-publisher, remember Yog's Law: money flows TO the author.

You do wear several hats, though. Art director hat pays the artist. Editorial hat pays editors (they're expensive!). Publisher hat evaluates resources & services various places offer.

But if you give up control of any of that, with a service or however, make sure that you're getting $, not funding the service for little payoff to the author. Don't sell rights w/out knowing what you're doing!