What If Nobody Was Actually Stopping You From Publishing
Every business, family, and community leaves something behind. Not the buildings. Not the bank accounts. The stories. Those are what survive us.
I think about this a lot. I sell houses for a living, but what people are really buying is the next chapter of their story. I see it every day: a family putting down roots after twenty years of moving, a first-time buyer finally done renting, a separating service member figuring out where home means now. The transaction is just the vehicle. The story is what they carry forward.
On this episode of The Falls Home Front, I sat down with Ian McMurtrie and Rita Beemen of Raconteur Press in Iowa Park to talk about how they built a catalog of more than 100 books and what authors still get wrong before they sign.
Curious about this conversation? Here is a quick preview:
Why a Real Estate Show Is Talking About Book Deals
I sell houses for a living. What people are actually buying is the next chapter of their story. That is why a publishing conversation belongs on a show about North Texas real estate, business, and life.
Ian spent 26 years in public service, 19 with the Wichita County Sheriff’s Office, before retiring in 2020. Rita is the co-founder who pushed him to publish in the first place and now develops the anthologies, novels, and boys’ adventure titles alongside him. Together they run an independent fiction publisher based in Iowa Park, Texas.
What pulled me in was the shape of his career. A man spends his working life in uniform, then builds something entirely new. I made that same turn, and so have many of the families I help decide whether to sell or rent when PCS orders drop.
Watch the full episode here:
How One Facebook Question Turned Into a Publishing Company
It started with a hypothetical. A friend asked Ian what might have happened if Germany had invaded Malta instead of Crete during World War II. Ian, proud of his Maltese heritage, wrote a long and pointed answer.
Then something unexpected happened. Readers did not ask him to write more. They asked to write it themselves.
Their friend Janna Hayden, now their production manager, forced the test. Post an open call, turn off the phone, and go eat a chicken fried steak. Forty five minutes later, 48 people had volunteered. Within a day, 108 stories had been offered.
They had planned one anthology of ten stories. They ended up with four Malta titles and eventually a full catalog organized by series. Rita said it plainly. You realize we are a publisher now.
The lesson I took is that demand usually exists before the business does. Writing also remains a real occupation. The median pay and job outlook for working writers describes a field that is modest in size but steady, with many people self-employed.
The Crabs in the Bucket Nobody Warns You About
I asked Ian what surprised him most about becoming an entrepreneur. I expected an answer about cash flow. That is not what I got.
“What surprised me the most is the crabs in the bucket that try to drag you down. We have several other small publishers that are behind us, and we have some big publishers behind us, but the amount of dragging down has been stunning. One of the reasons we’re different is that we are quite open in our books and our processes. If you think you want to publish with us and you want to see a contract, we’ll send you a sample contract. If you don’t like it, we’ll change it. If you need to know how many books we’ve sold, we have an automatic portal that will allow you to see how many books have been sold and what your next royalty check should look like. The amount of hate we’ve gotten from other publishers for doing that has been somewhat startling to me.”
Their edge is that they refuse to hide the numbers. Sample contracts on request. Editable terms. A live portal showing sales and the next royalty check.
That is the same posture I take with sellers when I explain what happens when a home is priced too high before a move. People trust numbers they can see for themselves. If you want a sense of how unusual that openness is, look at what every author should understand before signing a book deal.
Rita added a point I keep returning to. Their inexperience helped them. Nobody told them the schedule was impossible, so they published an anthology every two weeks for two years straight.
Why the Pie Is Bigger Than Anybody Told You
There is a belief in their field that the pie is fixed, and that every slice someone takes is removed from everyone else. They reject it. When imitators started launching similar anthologies, they cheered them on.
I offered an analogy while we were taping. A closed pond runs dry when everyone draws from it. A river does not. I can fish one bank, you can fish the other, and there is still plenty moving downstream.
Rita framed the test another way. Great art inspires more art. Ask the same of a business. Does what you build make it easier or harder for the next person to start?
Why This Business Could Not Have Existed in Iowa Park Thirty Years Ago
Their team is spread across the country. Their authors write from England, Australia, Tasmania, India, and Central Asia, including a teenager working in her second language.
None of it was possible three decades ago. The internet, remote collaboration, and digital delivery arrived together, and now they work as though everyone shares one office. They also chose Wichita County deliberately. An author in Wyoming will not fly to Manhattan. A Manhattan publisher will not drive to Montana. Sitting on Highway 287 puts them in the path of both, which is one more reason homes for sale in Iowa Park keep drawing people who want space without isolation.
My final assignment was Director of Operations at the 366th Training Squadron at Sheppard AFB. I know what a household looks like when orders drop and a spouse has to rebuild a career for the third time in eight years.
What Ian and Rita built answers that problem, and they were not even trying to solve it. A business that runs on a distributed team and delivers digitally survives a PCS. That is part of why the case for military relocation Wichita Falls TX is stronger than most people assume. You are close to the base, costs stay low enough to take a risk, and the work no longer has to be local. The same logic applies to selling a Wichita Falls home remotely after you have already moved.
The Contract Mistakes That Can Cost You a Career
This is where the conversation turned serious, and where I would tell any writer to slow down and pay attention.
“We see new authors all the time that are so excited to get a contract that they just sign it. They just, you know, oh my god, I’m a published author, and they sign the contract. There are all sorts of gators in the swamp, what we call rights grabs. There’s a friend of ours who has written one book in a universe, didn’t read the contract, and now the publisher that this author went through 10 years ago, because of the contract, owns the entire universe. This author cannot write in his own universe anymore because he didn’t read the contract before he signed it. My father told me that anybody that’s trying to rush you into doing something is not doing it for your benefit.”
The money is not close. Self-publishing on Amazon returns roughly 70 percent to the author. A press like theirs returns about 40 percent of what Amazon remits. Traditional publishing lands near 7 percent, and the book can sit for years before it reaches a shelf. That is the honest version of traditional publishing vs independent publishing, though the big houses still win on getting books into physical stores.
Yog’s Law is the cleanest filter available. Money should flow to the author. Pay for editing. Pay for cover art. Never pay a publisher to publish you, because once they hold your check the incentive disappears. How vanity and subsidy presses actually operate is well documented.
Then there is the matter of publishing contract rights of first refusal. A narrow version covering sequels is reasonable. A broad version can bind everything you write under that name for life. Federal law offers one backstop, since authors can reclaim rights granted decades earlier under federal copyright law, though that window opens 35 years after the grant.
If you are working toward a first submission, their submission guidelines are worth reading line by line, and the current open calls for short story submissions show what their editors want.
What Changed for Me After This Conversation
“There’s a misconception that we call, or is referred to as, the pie. There seems to be this perception in a lot of the field that there’s a limited pie and the slice you take takes away from everybody else. We don’t find this to be the case. The pie is infinite, and we’re quite open. If you ask us, we’ll help. This has not been returned in several cases, but we’ll just drive on. Again, we don’t feel constrained by what everyone has always done, and I think that’s part of our charm. We think the more the merrier. We encourage other people to do what we’re doing because we think it’s important.”
Three things stuck with me. Permission is not coming, and they proved it by building a hundred-book catalog nobody authorized. The pie is not fixed, and I have caught myself treating other agents as competition for a limited pool of clients. You can follow their publishing news and author announcements or browse the boys adventure novel line they started building in 2025.
And every transaction is somebody’s chapter. A family finally putting down roots after twenty years of moving. A buyer who is done renting. That is the shift I took from my conversation with Ian McMurtrie and Rita Beemen of Raconteur Press, and it is why I now pay closer attention to the story behind the sale and not only the closing date. If that is where you are, you can see more on buying and selling homes across Wichita Falls and North Texas, connect with a Wichita Falls real estate strategist, or follow everyday life and listings in North Texas.
This is just a taste of what Ian and Rita from Raconteur Press shared. The full conversation goes deeper into royalty splits, publishing contract rights of first refusal, and the abundance mindset that built a hundred-book catalog from a single Facebook post. Hear every word on The Falls Home Front podcast.
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FAQ
What is the difference between traditional, independent, and self-publishing?
Traditional publishing runs through an agent to a major house, takes years, and returns roughly 7 percent to the author. Independent publishing removes the agent gatekeeper, moves faster, and pays a larger share. Self-publishing puts everything in your hands, returns about 70 percent, and leaves you responsible for editing, cover design, and marketing.
How do I spot a vanity press?
Money should flow toward the author, never away. Paying for editing and cover art is normal. Paying a publisher a lump sum to publish you is not, because once they hold your money, the incentive to work on your book disappears. Some of these operations market themselves as hybrid presses, so knowing how to avoid a vanity press starts with reading the fee structure closely.
Should I worry about a right of first refusal?
It depends entirely on how it is written. A narrow clause covering sequels to a book that a publisher already released is standard and fair. A broad clause can obligate you on everything you write under that name for the rest of your life. Read the exact language, then have a lawyer read it with you.
Where should a first-time author start?
Write daily and join a group that will critique you honestly, because a peer catching a flaw beats a stranger catching it in a review. Then decide whether you want full control or would rather hand off editing, design, and marketing. Anyone asking how to get a book published should research small presses, read submission guidelines exactly, and match the formatting to the letter.
Who is Tim Lockhart, and what makes him qualified to help?
A retired U.S. Air Force Major, Tim Lockhart finished his service as Director of Operations at the 366th Training Squadron at Sheppard AFB and now works as a Certified Military Relocation Professional (MRP). He has helped over 300 families buy and sell around Wichita Falls since 2012, many PCSing to or from Sheppard AFB, with VA loans, BAH-aware budgeting, and remote-friendly tools suited to tight PCS timelines. See how Tim helps military families relocate to Wichita Falls.
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North Texas is full of people quietly building things that outlast them. A press in Iowa Park with authors on four continents. A shop that has stayed in one family for three generations. A separating airman who turned twenty years of training into a business nobody saw coming.
If you are building something here and you have lessons worth handing to someone else, I would like you on the show. Real estate, small business, publishing, trades, or service, the story matters more than the category.
Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Tim Lockhart is a licensed REALTOR® in Texas. The publishing, contract, and author rights insights shared here do not constitute legal advice. Please consult a qualified attorney or other appropriate licensed professional about your specific situation.
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