Vico, I’m not so sure locking a story is a deterrent to Goggle reads. Non-members get three free reads per month. So if they find it on Google they can likely read it. My most successful story (if you consider stats numbers success) in views, reads and fans has been locked from day one. I didn't write it with anyone in mind or using any strategy. In fact, I thought it would do poorly since it was about music (which is not popular on Medium.) It started very slowly, but it has steadily increased and currently has 9.7k views (4.1k from Google), 5.9k reads, and 131 fans (a lot of 1 claps?) I guess I just got lucky.

If you’re curious, or want to analyze it, here it is:

Declining Audio Quality In Music