I love subheadings. They add so much to an index, breaking down long strings of locators into smaller chunks, highlighting meaning distinctions, and gathering related entries into lists so readers only need to search in one place. As I discuss in my last reflection, subheadings can also reflect the story… Read More »When Subheadings Are Not So Useful
Living in Canada and regularly working with a number of Canadian presses, I’ve had the privilege, since I’ve begun freelancing, to index several books relating to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. There seems to be a growing trend in Canada to publish books by and about Indigenous Peoples. I’ve also… Read More »Indigenous Terms and Names, Indexing
Local history can be both a joy and a challenge to index. It can be deeply personal, both for those telling and writing the stories, and for those reading, as it reaffirms our bonds with each other and with the places we belong. The index is often the first point… Read More »Indexing Local History: Stories I’ve Been Told Series
Happy New Year! I hope your year is off to a fabulous start, whether you are hitting the ground running or easing into the new year. I recently heard the term “gentle January,” which sounds about right to me. Do I have goals for this year? Yes. Do I need… Read More »2023: Year in Review
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you are probably aware that indexing can get pretty technical. Details matter. Creativity works best when interwoven with the rules and conventions that make an index tick. All that to say, today’s reflection is going to get geeky. East Asian Names… Read More »East Asian Names, Deep Dive
What can main headings be composed of? Main headings, which kick off an entry or array, usually describe a single person or thing. It could be a name, or a government agency, or a physical object, or a concept. It is concrete and identifiable. Which is what we want in… Read More »Index Profile: Tracing Complicated Relationships in Main Headings, in The Other Great Game
Ever struggle to find the right term to use in the index? I do. From an indexing standpoint, ideally the vocabulary used in the book is clear and consistent, making it easy to extract terms and phrases to use as main headings and subheadings. Bu not all books are so… Read More »Index Profile: Untangling Terms in Rediscovering the Goodness of Creation
As you may have noticed, two weeks ago, on May 6, I started live-tweeting my indexing process, as I indexed the trade book Almost Human: The Story of Julius, the Chimpanzee Caught between Two Worlds. Those tweets are now compiled, with some additional commentary, which you can find here. I… Read More »Index Live-Tweet Debrief
You know those days and weeks when it is one project after the other? The content from one book starts to blend into the content of the next? Occasionally my mind will draw a blank when my wife asks me at the end of the day what I’ve learned from… Read More »Five Things I Learned Last Month from Indexing