Oh sorry John, You asked me to recommend publications a few days ago, and apart from a quick response with my faves, I didn't come back with anything else. Yes - publications can give you greater visibility, and that's why I never publish outside of a publication. You benefit from their followers seeing your story on their feeds.

For me, setting up membership of the partner program was instantaneous. I set up Stripe and was good to go. If you've done that, it will automatically give you the paywall option - in fact, in my experience that's the default. If not, I guess you publish without a paywall, then you don't get paid.

I've not tried changing the status of something that's published, but it might be possible. They call it listed or unlisted. There's a blog about it here: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215552778-Unlisted-stories

Unlisted articles are not behind a paywall, so you don't get paid for views. I always post mine as listed. Unlisted articles (not behind a paywall) also get reduced visibility. So if yours are all unlisted, it won't help your views.

Most publications do not accept published articles, so I'd check 3 things before you publish anything else...

1. are you enrolled on the partner program? If not, start again. If still having trouble, contact medium.

2. Apply to join some publications. History of Yesterday might suit you.

3. Then you're good to publish to a publication with more visibility and paid reads. But you may have to wait a little while to sort out the publications. I've written a few blogs that might interest you. I'll post links below. The first one answers some of your questions.

https://medium.com/writers-blokke/lessons-for-new-medium-writers-ad3cc5884c9c

https://medium.com/writers-blokke/getting-to-grips-with-medium-401cfd692444

You can change stories after you've published in a publication. It's still on your feed and you can do anything you like with it.

There are 1000s of publications and it's a bit overwhelming. Best thing is to search on subject matter here: https://toppub.xyz/publications/tags/385

Also, if you have specific subjects that need a home, feel free to ask me. And also, look to see where other people are publishing their stories.

Good luck!