Sid James: “You’ve forgotten something, mate. I’m your agent, remember? I got a contract with you.”
Hancock: “Contract? You’ve been holding that thing over my head for five years now, allowing me to keep 10% of everything that I earn.”
Audience laughter at the rapacity of Sid James and Hancock’s gullibility.
Now imagine Sid as a publisher, and Hancock as a writer, and suddenly it's normal and accepted and nobody laughs. (And his literary agent would take 15% 0f the 10%...)