I've got two novels up in the Kindle store; I addressed the lack of a 'search inside the book'/'read an excerpt' limitation by hosting pdf excerpts of each novel outside of Amazon, on personal web space, and providing a link to each excerpt in the description passage for each book.
Also, as I'm also an independent, I thought you might be interested in my blog, "Indie Author":
http://aprillhamilton.blogspot.com
It's relatively new and I've only made 2 blog entries so far, but I've included a section with links of interest to indie authors, and a link to an interview I gave to The Writing Cast on the topic of how and why I became an indie author. Other writers I know are just beginning to discover DTP and the many other tools they can use to convert their work into ebook formats, and several have asked if I can provide some how-to articles in that vein. I'm trying to get those articles up and linked from my blog in the next few weeks, so bookmark it and check back from time to time.
Which isn't to say I think you need *my* help---your website makes that much clear---but I may have hit on some tips or ideas you haven't, and vice-versa. I've already bookmarked your site for my own edification!