Sell ebooks door to door? Staple fliers to telephone poles? Put them in little fortune cookies? Spam practically everyone on the planet? Hire a skywriter? Go to innocent children on the other side of the playground fence? Voodoo? Telemarketing? Message in a bottle? Billboards? T-shirts?

"...some kind of free online promotion..."

--
Featured e-Book: The Sculptor's Muse

I'd much rather staple fliers to telephone poles than e-staple e-fliers to e-telephone poles. but shit, the internet is a telephone pole (electric current & all)

I have a good recommendation: get the book "1001 ways to market your book" by John Kremer. There are other books on the subject, but this one is by far the most conclusive. Kremer is also very motivating - he tells you about some self-published writers who have gone on to sell millions of copies of their book. Well, you know it's not very likely to happen, but one can always dream.

Considering it's 2008, you will also want to learn SEO (search engine optimization). Essentially it means that much more people will find your books on Google. You can find many websites and free ebooks dedicated to this subject. It is not very complicated, but can make a huge difference.

--
My CFS/ME/FM book: http://www.brokenmarionettebook.com

The thing is my ebooks and books aren't self-published and I suspect that effects how they should be marketed. They are sold by my publishers website and my own has a decent page ranks already. I am mainly looking for more specific information about promoting third party published ebooks online when you already have a website, blog etc.

--
Featured e-Book: The Sculptor's Muse

Well, Kremer's book isn't focused on self-published books, quite the opposite. It was just an example. His book really has 1001 ideas for marketing, if not more, ideas that can be utilized by the publisher, the author, or (usually) both.

--
My CFS/ME/FM book: http://www.brokenmarionettebook.com

I don't know much about ebooks and can only judge from my experiences with the German market, but my general impression is that advertisement on the internet is much less effective than one hopes. So I don't think your "laziness" costs you too much (I know the problem. You can't run around and "convince" people to read your books all day, it is very tiring.)

It might be more rewarding, in the long term, to consequently send your stories to publishers.

Getting reviews is however always a good thing. The more "important" the reviewer or the page, the better. Reaching a small, but specialized and dedicated audience is more effective than spamming a larger, more general one. And features in print media seem more effective than features on the net, at least over here.

Reading groups are also a great way of staying under discussion, but they aren't easy to find, of course.

--
_{www.rainlights.net}

In general this is what I think too. I collect sales figures on romance ebooks and most of it comes down to the publisher, a little the genre, not much else.

However I decided to see what I could do if I did make an effort. I think it's good to test the old assumptions

I should look at getting some more reviews....

--
Featured e-Book: The Sculptor's Muse