I just want to say one more thing before I bugger off to do my thing.
Some sort of transactional system was always present and still is on all the sites like Tapas. It’s value is always not in transaction itself, but its ability to put the work before the silent readers.
And, in the end of the day, the silent readers decide the fate of each fiction, will it fail or succeed.
What, would you ask, can a new writer do? Like, an average writer, not a super star with millions followers on social media? Everywhere, in every system, do this:
write with passion
edit a lot, then edit again,
find the site that plays to your strengths,
be aware and comply with easy rules of thumb, like time of day to post and length of episode,
move on after failures,
find friends whose work they enjoy, and read/comment it voraciously without counting beans on reciprocation
and...
hope for the best. Then write some more. And you shall profit.