Hey Judy, this is interesting. However, I don’t think your overall stats changing is an indication of people going to your stories and reading them. When people read your comments, that shows up as a view and a read. I know this because I had plenty of views and reads in my first month when I was reading and leaving comments but never published a story.
Nevertheless it will encourage more reads of your stories. Just not anywhere as many as your stats may be leading you to believe.