Just from a different perspective. Is it even worth it, to colonize America? You get money from trade, but CNs are pushing hard for independence. Colonizing India seems a much better?
I'd say it still is. They push for independence doesn't seem to really start taking off until the 1700s, and until then you have a couple centuries where some of those CNs can be highly profitable. And even if your colony in Brazil, Mexico, or Eastern America eventually becomes big enough to start thinking about controlling their own destiny, they can still be stepping stones to colonies in places like California, Alaska, or Guyane, which probably won't be colonized until late in the game and as such will have a harder time building the Liberty Desire needed to revolt.
Also, you can't reach India as easily early on and even if you get there you'll have a considerably harder time establishing yourself. Indian tech is still formidable in the early years of the game, and the colonizable provinces out that way are almost 100% tropical meaning you're looking at a very long, very expensive process to colonize them. And you'll still need the trade infrastructure to get the full benefits of those colonies back home (though trade companies alone aren't all that shabby).
I think the best way to handle it is to still go ahead and colonize the Americas, but rather than focusing on colonizing one entire colonial region at once you should spread your colonial efforts out and actually let other nations have some of the slices of the various pies. Monopolizing the Americas isn't super realistic since 1.8 anyways, after all. So rather than a single "super colony", you could aim for three or four decent colonies of relatively equal size spread across the New World. Same amount of effort and reward, only they aren't individually as powerful (thus less likely to revolt), and should one revolt you're looking at an easier war/less to possibly be lost.
The downside being intentionally smaller colonies will have a harder time defending themselves, not to mention you're leaving more room for other CNs to build their own power base. Still, I'd hate to try and fund my early game efforts with first wave colonizers without grabbing some of the riches of the Americas.
