The book or the paper or the other piece of writing is published, it is out there in the big wide world, but what now? Most authors probably experience elation at the time of publication, but sadly, it is usually short-lived. It is quickly replaced by a feeling of uncertainty about the progeny whose gestation has been so important to them. Will anybody read it? Was anything overlooked that should have been included? Could it have been better written? These and other questions might worry the author, but of course, it is all too late. So, one waits for feedback; one waits to see what other people think of one's work. In my own experience, it is very difficult to judge the quality of your own writing; you cannot be sufficiently objective about something that you have been so close to for so long. On rare occasions you might feel that you did a good job; more commonly you suspect that you could have done a better one. Significantly, years later you might reread something you wrote and be pleasantly surprised at its quality or acutely embarrassed by its shortcomings. At the time of publication, however, you are dependent on the judgement of others.

For books, the first to pass judgement are often book reviewers. In the case of archaeological writing, reviews are mostly published in professional journals concerned with the discipline, but sometimes they appear in the journals of related subjects such as history or anthropology and occasionally in more general media such as magazines and newspapers.