There’s a moment in the early portion of a semester when I can count on a big "huh!" from my writing students. It occurs as we discuss the publishing business and someone adds how writers and publishers must carry great respect for each other. "Teammates!" is the way one sports-enthusiast put it.

The scenario plays out until I say, "Actually publishers and writers only endure one another because we have to." That’s when the "huh!" comes in, and, of course, I now have their undivided attention. "It’s like a marriage of convenience," I say, "or one of those eighteenth-century arranged marriages. We know we need one another, but that doesn’t mean we have to like each other."

The truth is that if we scratch a publisher’s shell of affability, we’ll find an array of concerns, starting with writers who don’t understand royalty statements. "If only they thought like publishers, we could clear up these financial misunderstandings in no time," a publisher said to me a few years ago. He was referring to another writer’s insistence that certain royalties were due when the amount in question was wrapped in the catch-all publishing safety-net, "reserve for returns." The publisher tried to explain it one more time: "These books haven’t actually been sold..." Then, he recognized the trap he had set for himself and back-pedaled. "Well, they’ve been sold, but we don’t distribute your royalty share until we know how many books will be returned. You’re entitled to ‘net’ royalties only."

"Oh," said the writer, uncomprehendingly.

The difficulties between publishers and writers stem from very different "takes" each musters on the same set of circumstances. For publishers, the act of acquiring, producing and selling a book is a commercial enterprise where success is measured in number of copies sold, book clubs attained and bottom-line health assured. For writers, the act of writing, convincing a publisher to publish and basking in the glow of that publication is affirmation of the writer as artist, and it is here that the twin paths of publishing and writing diverge. Publishers see the work in stark terms of how many, how much and how long; writers see the work in more gauzy effects of artistic statement and personal values. "My book," says the writer, "Our book," says the publisher, and in a very real sense both are right. Yet the divergence is clear, too: objectivity guides the publisher, subjectivity guides the writer.

One day a publisher told me this story: "A well-known writer—let’s call him, Ben—came to see me about a book idea. Moments before I had been informed that one of our books had been taken by Book-of-the-Month Club, and I was really pleased. Ben came in and started talking about his idea, and I stopped him so I could share my good news. As I described the book and author, Ben sat there, legs crossed, foot swinging, looking out the window, Occasionally he’d nod, and when I finished by saying how this could add gloss to everything on our list, Ben leaned forward and said ‘Right, sure, now about my book idea...’ "

The publisher has used that story to illustrate the single-minded self-absorption he sees in most writers. "They only care about their own books," I’ve heard him say. And one can only imagine what Ben must have said when relating the story to his writer friends: "He touts another writer and throws it in my face!"

The truth is both are right in the sense that each has a constituency to serve: for publishers it’s the book sales market, for writers it’s the book creation market. Reputable publishers understand why the minutae of book selling carries little interest for writers who are much more concerned—as they should be—with writing well. Yet savvy writers also understand that in the long run how the publisher sells the book has a direct bearing on the size of their royalty checks. The key for both publisher and writer is to acknowledge their joint interest in well-written words, published and sold with skill and respect.

One way to begin would be with royalty statements which can be mysterious and often incomprehensible. In addition to the "reserve for returns" catch-all and byzantine entries for number of units sold and amounts collected, there are lines for permissions, foreign rights, indexes, premiums, point-of-sale discounts, remainders... all of which are factored in before the royalty check is cut. "I know this is a breakdown of what I’m owed and how we got here," a writer friend has said, "But it’s so damn complicated."

A few years ago I thought I detected a small flaw in my publisher’s regular royalty statement. A matter of only one hundred dollars or so, but I saw no reason to let it slide into the great maw of "oh-what-the-hell!" I mentioned it to my agent, and she duly took it up with the publisher. A few weeks later my agent called: "the publisher says you’re mistaken. the amount’s already in the check you received." I went over it again, and still, I saw an error. So I prevailed on my agent to go back one more time. The response was all too familiar, publisher to writer: our figures are correct! But I didn’t believe it, and I kept pushing my agent, and she kept pushing the publisher, who responded variously with (a) a waste of time to get so involved over so little money (b) our accounting procedures are state of the art (c) how can we trust the writer if he won’t trust us?

Finally, six months later, my agent called: "I just got off the phone with the editor. They’re sending a check today."

"Took them long enough," I said.

"Dear boy, you know what publishers are like."

I assured her I did know.

Yet one must be careful not to paint all publishers with the same brush. An unpleasant experience with one doesn’t mean the same would occur with another. Writers need to understand that even if a publisher shows more interest in book sales than book storyline, there’s still common ground in this marriage of convenience: well-written words, published and sold with skill and respect.

William Noble has been writing and teaching for more than thirty years. He’s published fifteen books and more than one-hundred articles, and stories. His work has been selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and Writer’s Digest Book Club, and he’s appeared on numerous television and radio shows in connection with his writing. He always tries to make friends with his publishers.