Well, it's only been 10 days so I think you can't really say much at this point considering this is your first game and you've never released any free games for people to know about you.
Though what's interesting is your experience with dealing with the press and publisher. It seems like you spent a lot of time on those, but it doesn't help much with spreading out the game's name. I'd love to know more what do you think was not fair with the deal, but I'm sure you are not allowed to say that as I used to be in the same situation :/
Have you thought about making a lite flash version and release it for free on game portals? I think this could really help making people know about your game.
Anyway, I've tried the demo, since puzzle + rpg is one of my favourite genres. While the game is interesting, I think there are many things that the game can improve. But since this is not a feedback thread, I'll send it to you via PM