Yeah, the only time I ever got much out of Smashwords was when I made books free for a promotion. Sigh!
Tiffmeister, if you like publishing in serial format, I'd suggest taking a look at Substack.
I think part of what killed Vella was that readers began to realize they ended up paying a lot more to read the equivalent of a novel than they would if they'd just bought the novel. Substack operates on a much more flexible model that makes it easier to make it seem like good value-for-dollar to prospective readers. It's a tiered system--people can subscribe for free, subscribe at a specific rate per month or per year, or become "founding members" or something similar--pick the term that works.
As a writer, you describe how much you want to let each tier to have access to. Some people paywall everything but the first few episodes of a serial. Some people leave all current episodes free but paywall the archive (and decide when older posts get archived). Some people leave everything free and let people pay to subscribe out of the goodness of their hearts (which does happen occasionally).
You decide how much you post. Consistency is important, but readers typically don't expect (and might not even want) a constant bombardment. One of two episodes a week is enough. You can post exclusively one serial or have two or more going at the same time. Posts are delivered to subscribers in the form of an email newsletter. They are also readable online, as Substack creates what amounts to an individual website for each participating author. (It's a little like having an author blog, except that it's bundled with thousands of other author blogs, all in one place. There is obviously competition for attention, but it's also possible that someone drawn to Substack by someone else will find you. I get many times the number of views on my substack than I get on my original blog.
As you can imagine, the flexibility leaves open a lot of possibilities. You can be a hobbyist and publish just to have an audience. You can make some serious money, too, though that's easier with nonfiction than with fiction. If you like, you can write just the books that you were going to write anyway, publishing a chapter at a time to Substack. (If you write faster, you can schedule for publication later--I'm currently scheduled two months out.) Some Substackers explicitly label their posts as a pre-publication copy. Later, you can do a final edit, publish as an ebook, and offer subscribers free copies (or not, as you prefer).
If you want more info or have questions, here's the thread for that:
https://writersanctum.com/index.php?board=69.0 
