I had sent a few submissions to small independent comics publishers in 1983 to try and establish a name for myself after Ultra Klutz '81 flopped, and even attempted a trade newspaper strip called Superhero Overdose.
But it was the discovery of the photocopy fanzines (an even smaller small press, sold by mail order) that rejuvenated me to get back in the comics game. This was an intimate, tribal group of publishers with tiny circulations but a lot of synergy, so I got prolific and submitted many stories to these 'zines in 1984-1985.
It didn't take long to become jaded with this scene when my 'zine version of Ultra Klutz eclipsed them in sales. When I switched to indy comics in 1986 I stopped submitting stories to others and instead started paying my favorite small press artists to reprint their work as back-up stories in Ultra Klutz. When Ultra Klutz went on hiatus in 1989, I made a brief retreat to the comfortable photocopy small press world. Only this time, I openly criticized the faults and self-delusions of the small press community with the release of Nicholson's Small Press Tirade, which caused both praise and anger from my old comrades.
Eventually I compiled the best of all of my old small press contributios, as well as the 1989 Tirade, into the Nicholson's Small Press Tirade trade paperback.
This book is long out of print, but the Tirade was reprinted in the Treasury of Mini Comics Vol. 2 by Fantagraphics Books in 2014.