Article
July 12, 2023
0 comment
by Stephen

Publication Day! And Why I Wrote a Book About Indexing

My book is officially launched!

It is a surreal experience to put the book out into the world. Today, I am still sitting at home, writing an index for a client. Not much has changed in my day-to-day life. Most of the work of finalizing the book and uploading the files happened a couple of week or more ago. And yet anyone can now buy and receive this thing that I have created. 

I am nervous, wondering if the book is going to be a complete flop or if it has a fatal flaw that I missed. But mostly I’m excited. This feels like an end to all of the work of writing and publishing, and the beginning of both marketing and supporting the book, going forward, as well as an opportunity to start a new writing project. I am excited to see how this book is received and what comes next.

I’m not very good at celebrating, but I did want to mark the occasion. My caffeinated beverage of choose is loose leaf green or oolong tea, and I recently bought some Japanese sencha green tea from a local tea shop. I decided to save it until this morning, and I enjoyed a cup as I got the day rolling.

I have also been reflecting on why I have written this book.

The original impetus was noticing that I would occasionally receive queries from authors who ultimately decided to write the index themselves. I respect their decision. It can be difficult trusting someone else to do a good job, or the price may be higher than their budget, or indexing just seems like such an intriguing puzzle. But I did feel bad that there were not better resources to help authors tackle this task.

Writing Book Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide, I have tried to balance being thorough with also being practical and accessible. By the time you finish this book, you should understand the fundamentals of indexing, and—if you’ve been doing the exercises—you should have a solid head-start and plan for writing your own index. I have written the book so that each chapter builds on itself, so that there is a step-by-step progression. I have also tried to keep the language and descriptions simple, so that the concepts are not too difficult to understand, and so that the book can be read fairly quickly, if the reader is in a hurry. I believe that indexing is a skill that can be taught and learned. 

If you read the book, you can let me know how I’ve done!

Accessibility has also informed my publishing strategy. I’ve decided to publish wide, which among indie authors means that I am not exclusive to Amazon. Instead, the book is mostly being distributed through Draft2Digital, and for the ebook, direct with a few retailers, such as Amazon, Google Play, and Kobo. Through Draft2Digital, the book is available from retailers around the world, including ones that I had never heard of before. For example, with Vivlio, a major book retailer in France, and with Librerías Gandhi, one of the largest bookstore chains in Mexico.

This is in contrast to most books on indexing, which I’ve noticed can be both very expensive and can be difficult to find. They are not always even available on Amazon.

Do I expect to sell a lot of copies in France or Mexico? No, not really. But that is not the point. The point is that the book is available. The point is to make it easier for people to learn about indexing, regardless of where they live. The point is to help improve the quality of indexes, whether by authors, newer indexers, or people exploring indexing as a career. The point is to help editors and others within the publishing industry better understand what is required for an excellent index, and how to work with indexers. Maybe even readers who appreciate a quality index can grow in their appreciation and understanding.

Indexing is poorly understood, even within publishing. And lack of knowledge tends to lead to poor indexes. I want to make indexing more accessible and more easily understood. I believe that the more authors, editors, readers, and even indexers understand the mechanics of indexing and the qualities of an excellent index, the better books will be, and the better it will be for all of us. 

So, big dreams for indexing and indexes. Maybe more than this book can shoulder. But this book is a step, at least, towards making indexing accessible and making indexing known. 

PS. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, you can find your preferred retailer here. If you’d like to learn more about what is in the book, please click here.

Article
October 3, 2016
0 comment
by Stephen

Decolonizing the Index: Indexing in Indigenous Studies

REDERMORRAJULY16colonial-problemIf you have indexed for long, you have probably been asked what areas you index in. You have probably also asked yourself this question when trying to market yourself more effectively. Is there a niche topic in which you can stand out?

Personally, I’ve had mixed results trying to market myself with specific subjects. It might be a foot in the door, but once I’m in I can end up being asked to index anything and everything. For example, an academic publisher who publishers in Asian studies and religious studies, two areas I am interested in, is also likely to publish in sociology and African studies, for example, and if they like me as an indexer I am just as likely to get any of the above or something else entirely. It really depends on what their next book is. So while there are particular areas in which I feel uniquely qualified or have a special interest in, I’m open to indexing almost anything within the social sciences and humanities. That seems to be as narrow as most of my clients are willing to pigeon-hole me. It might be different, though, for subjects such as law or medicine, which have their own dedicated publishers and conventions.

All that said, in this post I am going to briefly discuss a niche that I inadvertently discovered and have had opportunity to reflect on, most recently in The Indexer, the international journal of indexing, which is a wonderful publication and a must read if you are an indexer.

Indigenous studies is an area I first grappled with as an indexer when writing my award-winning index for the book Strange Visitors. I go into more detail about that book and winning the Purple Pen Award here. For now, as a recap, it was my first introduction to the contested language that so often surrounds Indigenous issues in North America, as well as the emotionally charged tensions that surrounds colonialism and the ways in which we tell these stories. I also found this topic difficult because I am myself a white settler. In the story of colonialism, I am the bad guy, to put it simply. How do I deal with that when indexing a book that is angry at people like me?

In other ways, however, is Indigenous studies really all that different from other disciplines? If Indigenous history, how is that different from other types of history? If Indigenous literature, how is that different from, say, Chinese literature? I think this is a good point to make: the type of content and how it is indexed may not be so different from other disciplines. What is different is how contested and emotionally charged the material can be, which includes my own personal involvement in the issues by virtue of living in a country in which colonialism and reconciliation are contemporary realities.

I was able to first explore these issues in a short article I wrote last year for Geez (Fall 2015, issue 39), a Canadian magazine which bills itself as “contemplative cultural resistance.” Then, earlier this year, Maureen MacGlashan asked me about writing something for The Indexer. Bouncing ideas back and forth, I mentioned the Geez article. Maureen liked it, asked to reprint it, and asked if I could expand my reflections, so The Indexer version (just published in vol. 34, no. 3, Sept. 2016, and also available online here) contains a postscript which is longer than the original article.

Now, I don’t want to claim that I am an expert just because I have some published thoughts on indexing in Indigenous studies. At the same time, I’m no longer a complete novice in the subject either. I think I can claim an edge when it comes to indexing Indigenous studies. Let’s call it, then, an edge in process. I hope to continue indexing in Indigenous studies and increasing my knowledge and effectiveness. I hope you have a chance to read my thoughts, in either Geez or The Indexer. If you do, perhaps send me a note or leave a comment below. I’d be glad to hear your thoughts on this subject as well.

And, for those of you curious, below is a list of Indigenous studies books I’ve indexed so far.

Teach, Learn, Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016)

The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada, by Lisa Monchalin (University of Toronto Press, 2016)

From Treaty Peoples to Treaty Nation: A Road Map For All Canadians, by Greg Poelzer and Ken S. Coates (UBC Press, 2015)

We Are Coming Home: Repatriation and the Restoration of Blackfoot Cultural Confidence, ed. by Gerald T. Conaty (AU Press, 2015)

You Will Wear a White Shirt: From the Northern Bush to the Halls of Power, by Nick Sibbeston (Douglas & McIntyre, 2015)

Strange Visitors: Documents in the History of Indigenous and Settler Relations in Canada from 1876, ed. by Keith D. Smith (University of Toronto Press, 2014)

Conversations With a Dead Man: The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott, by Mark Abley (Douglas & McIntyre, 2013)

We Are Born with the Songs Inside Us: Lives and Stories of First Nations People in British Columbia, by Katherine Palmer Gordon (Harbour Publishing, 2013)