We use constructions of surfaces as abelian covers to write down exceptional collections of line bundles of maximal length for every surface X in certain families of surfaces of general type with p g = 0 and K 2 X = 3, 4, 5, 6, 8. We also compute the algebra of derived endomorphisms for an appropriately chosen exceptional collection, and the Hochschild cohomology of the corresponding quasiphantom category. As a consequence, we see that the subcategory generated by the exceptional collection does not vary in the family of surfaces. Finally, we describe the semigroup of effective divisors on each surface, answering a question of Alexeev.