Very delayed gratification

John Scalzi's habit of gleefully reporting on his reviews may be the subject of some amusement--and even some ire--but pity the academic who publishes a book. "Go, little book," you sigh. And then...it drops silently into the void. "Hello?!" you cry. "Anybody out there seen my book?" Oh, no doubt somebody has seen it, but you won't know what that reader thinks for--oh--another two years, at least. There may be a capsule review in Choice, but only if the book isn't too monograph-y. Or perhaps your title catches the eye of someone at the London Review of Books. Otherwise, though, the wheels of academic reviewing grind slowly--leaving the author to gnaw on her fingernails.