I’ve said it before and I felt it deserved its own post: The free sample is the best free advertising an author can get!
Since posting it, I’ve given away 376 download copies of my fantasy short story, The Silver Collar on Smashwords, and had 692 reads on Wattpad. This doesn’t include all the other places I’ve posted it. I haven’t been able to make it free on Amazon yet, partially because people are still buying it! I don’t understand that, but OK.
I’m also currently working on Horarium, a sci-fi short story, and posting on Wattpad as I go. I’m enjoying this kind of work and reaching readers along the way.
My hubby had a fabulous idea about the freebie, too. (He has lots of those) After my free story, I include information for the reader to find my other works. I even included an excerpt from my upcoming book at the end of the story.
Here is my list of places I’ve posted The Silver Collar:
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/?page_id=81
http://www.globusz.com/aut_reg.php
http://www.free-ebooks.net/submissionForm.php
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/?page_id=81
http://www.feedbooks.com/help/self-pub-howto
http://ebookdirectory.com/cgi-bin/addurl.cgi
Do you have a freebie? How has it worked out for you?
Kate Policani 
I did have one free a while ago, but I don’t know wether it helped sell anything or not. Then I decided it wasn’t my best short story & decided to change it to another, but then that story started to sell and KDP did the select thing so I put it on that. Now I want to make it free all the time but I think I have to wait until the end of the select period ( I think) (I have the almost award winning one free on Scribd, but it’s not my usual style of writing so I haven’t advertised that widely)
I’ve heard that Amazon don’t make somthing free until it appears in one of the major stores. They seem to ignore Smashwords & places like Scribd. Maybe I should put the story out free on those places anyway.
I even put the free link as a comment on the amazon page and people are still buying it! It makes no sense.