Alright, so I have a free wordpress theme I want to release. It's NOT a sponsored theme, it's NOT a semi-copy -- it's 100% unique, and has the features you'd expect (widget-ready, valid xhtml/css, ...) How do I go about marketing it? :s
advertise it on forums. here, sitepoint, namepros, and any other webmaster forum. submit it to free wordpress theme sites.
depends on what is that you are trying to get out of it. its an unique theme and not sponsored. then how are you making money for your work? you can always submit it to the free theme sites but they will not pay you any money. unless you wanna give it out for free, then you can submit it to the theme sites and forums. you can sell it here at DP or sitepoint and then you can market also once the theme is sold and you got paid for your work.
If you are giving the theme away and it is not sponsored, I am not sure how that you would help you. Maybe I misunderstood the intent. But I think before you sumbit the theme anywhere you should at least put a link in the footer to one of your sites to get the benefit of giving the theme for free. Whatever niche the theme, I would link to a site of the same niche. For example if the theme is about pet care, add a footer link to one of your pet care sites. This way you have at least some links when people use the theme.