diff --git a/google-cloud-pubsub/lib/google/cloud/pubsub/async_publisher.rb b/google-cloud-pubsub/lib/google/cloud/pubsub/async_publisher.rb
index 776fc4c799d9..46febb3db81f 100644
--- a/google-cloud-pubsub/lib/google/cloud/pubsub/async_publisher.rb
+++ b/google-cloud-pubsub/lib/google/cloud/pubsub/async_publisher.rb
@@ -83,12 +83,12 @@ def initialize topic_name, service, max_bytes: 1_000_000, max_messages: 100, int
           @published_at = nil
           @publish_thread_pool = Concurrent::ThreadPoolExecutor.new max_threads: @publish_threads
           @callback_thread_pool = Concurrent::ThreadPoolExecutor.new max_threads: @callback_threads
-          @thread = Thread.new { run_background }
 
           @ordered = false
           @batches = {}
-
           @cond = new_cond
+
+          @thread = Thread.new { run_background }
         end
 
         ##