I’ve never indexed a work of fiction before. I once came close, for a novel which was part of someone’s creative dissertation, if I remember correctly, but that fell through. I also don’t often think that I want an index when I read a novel. When reading fiction, I am… Read More »Indexing Fiction: A Proposal for Taiwan Travelogue
Two Saturdays ago I co-presented a webinar with François Trahan, for the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI). The topic was best practices. We drew upon our experience serving together on the ISC/SCI Awards Committee, which administers the Ewart-Daveluy Award. We had an excellent turnout. Many thanks if you… Read More »Incorporating Indexing Best Practices
If you don’t already do this, I highly recommend you begin. If a client contacts you about a project and your schedule is already full, then take the initiative to tell the client what does work for you. Something like, “I’m afraid I’m not available at that time, but I… Read More »Share Your Availability
Welcome again to another Q&A on this last Tuesday of the month. It is hard to believe that September is almost here. Today’s question is from Reed, who asks, How do you handle providing samples of past indexes for potential clients? Thank you, Reed. That is an excellent question. My… Read More »Q&A: How Do You Provide Indexing Samples?
Today I want to return to a question I answered a few months ago on finding the appropriate level of granularity in an index. Within that question was the comment, “too many subheadings with the same locator is a red flag.” That comment has stuck with me. It is true… Read More »Repeating Locators Within an Array
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about fine-tuning the client flywheel, in which I discussed the value of having a diverse client base and considered shifts I may need to make as I grow my business. I received a thoughtful reply (thank you!), which prompted me to think further… Read More »Who Are Your Indexing Clients?
Welcome to another Q&A, on this last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question comes from Winona, and references a previous reflection I wrote. Winona asks: In your post on the subjective side of indexing, you write that two indexers can produce different indexes for the same book, but that there… Read More »Q&A: How to Quantify Subjectivity Across Indexes?
In some ways, I feel like I am writing today’s reflection to myself. Over this last year I’ve been focused on the business side of my freelance indexing business. Things like tightening up procedures, identifying and tracking metrics, learning to work with subcontractors. This may also mean changing who I… Read More »Fine-Tuning the Client Flywheel
You’d think after freelancing now for about fifteen years that I’d be better at turning down work that isn’t in my wheelhouse. It is not that I can’t figure out how to index such books; I’ve indexed enough diverse subjects that I kind of think I could index most anything.… Read More »Help! Indexing a Book I Don’t Understand
Welcome back to another Q&A on this last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question is a little different in that it comes from a subcontractor I work with. The question was asked in response to a specific piece of advice that I gave for a previous project we worked on… Read More »Q&A: When to Draw Indexable Terms Directly from the Text?