I’d like to point out that my games are usually short experiences, so creating a demo for them isn’t always easy or meaningful. Also, when it comes to pricing, I’ve noticed that asking for more money for a short game or mini-game can lead to complaints about the game’s length.
For example, I tried pricing 'Liminal Leap' at $4.99, but it didn’t sell well. When I lowered the price to $1, I saw more sales. Interestingly, the best response I ever got was during a short period when I made it completely free — people saw value in it, possibly because of the $4.99 original price and the appeal of getting it for free. So yes, I understand and agree with a lot of what you're saying, and I’ve actually tested different marketing strategies.
The challenge is that with low visibility, it's really hard to tell which strategies actually work. Apart from the free giveaway, most of the other approaches I tried seemed to have similar, limited impact.