I was recently prompted to think about what advice I would give myself as a new indexer.

My indexing origin story is that I was largely self-taught. How I index has definitely changed over the years, both through trial and error and through learning from other indexers at conferences, the email lists, and books. Looking back, there are some lessons I wish I knew from the start, which would have saved me a lot of frustration.

Vet the Book Before Starting the Index

Indexing blind is difficult. When I first started to index, I would work a chapter at a time, reading the text, marking it up, and then creating the entries. That helped somewhat. Now, I am familiar enough with indexes and with how books are written that I can start creating entries from page one and work forward. But I am really liking this new concept I learned at the ISC/SCI conference this summer, in Ottawa, of vetting the text. I find it helpful now, and I think it would have made an even bigger difference as a new indexer.

I would give myself permission to preview the book first before creating a single entry. I would read the introduction, skim the chapters, and write a rough list of main headings that I am pretty sure will be in the index. That list will probably change somewhat as I read more closely, but the point is to index from a place of knowledge rather than a place of ignorance. Knowing from the start what the book is about makes it far more likely that the first draft of the index will be on target. 

Put More Thought Into the Audience

The audience for the index is obviously importance. That is something I knew from the start. What I would do differently is to take the time to actually write out what the audience or audiences need from the index, and to also draft different headings or wordings for the different audiences. These headings may or may not make it into the actual index; the point is to think more concretely about the audience and to practice writing for different audiences, so that when I am actually indexing I can more easily tailor the index as needed.

Learn to Work Within Space Constraints

One of my biggest pain points, for several years, was clashing with space constraints. I did not know how to index at different densities, and cutting an index was a painful, laborious process that left me feeling bitter and angry. Thankfully, while I still do not enjoy cutting indexes or working under a tight space constraint, I am becoming better at it and it is no longer so painful. 

What I wish I knew from the start is precisely this—how to write an index within a space constraint. I wish I knew how to triage an index, and I wish I knew how to index at different densities. For practice, it would have been a good idea to index the same document two or three times, aiming for a different level of detail with each pass, so I could get a feel for what what a light index is compared to a dense index.

Edit the Index on the Go

The last tip I would give myself to save some angst is to clean up the index after each chapter. The final edit can be quite overwhelming, and any editing along the way would have made the final edit that much easier. This would also allow me to review and familiarize myself with the work done so far, which I think would have given me greater confidence moving forward, as well as making sure that I did not veer off on a wildly different path. When learning to index, there is so much to keep track of that I think periodically stopping to review and regroup would make a big difference.

If you have been indexing for a while, what advice would you give yourself? If you are new to indexing, what kind of advice would you want to receive?