Happy New Year! How is this first full week of 2025 shaping up for you?

I am having a slow start. I enjoyed unplugging from email and work for two weeks. I’m also recovering from a cold.

December was crazy busy, wrapping up nine indexes, which included a children’s book, one project which was simply names and biblical references, and two scholarly books that I began in November. So not quite as much work as nine indexes may sound, but still more than I bargained for. That was due to a couple of projects slipping and arriving when I did not expect and also, if I’m honest with myself, I did accept too much for December and didn’t leave enough margin for complications. 2024 was an odd year and I was trying to make up some missed income, but I should have been more disciplined and said no to a couple of projects.

2024 in Review

2024 was all about buying a house and moving. That dominated everything else in my life, including indexing. I’m thankful for this house. It still feels a bit surreal that I have a permanent place to live. I have always lived in anticipation of needing to move again within the next 1-4 years, and so a part of me is waiting to move again, another part is reassuring myself that I can stay where I am, and a third part doesn’t know how to compute living in a place for longer than four years. One day at a time, I guess.

Moving, settling, and learning the maintenance rhythms for this particular house has also taken time. There were a few months over the summer when I was indexing part-time at best. That impacted the number of projects I was able to complete, along with my income, so I am especially thankful for Elim, my wife, who is earning more than me. 

Looking at the numbers for 2024:

• 44 indexing projects (down from 52 in 2023)
• 25 trade books, 18 scholarly books, plus an index for a policy document that I update every couple of years
• Worked with 12 publishers (30 indexes), 12 authors (1 index each), 1 professional association and 1 policy institute (1 indexes each)
• 34 projects were from clients within Canada, 8 projects from clients in the US, and 2 projects from clients in Australia.

Overall, my numbers are fairly similar to 2023, despite fewer projects. My ratio of trade to scholarly books is similar, as is projects from publishers vs. authors, and where projects are coming from. I am very thankful for the publishers I work with and who continue to send me work year after year. Having these positive relationships and not needing to actively market as much definitely makes my life easier. 

One interesting point: one publisher sent me 11 books to index in 2024, which is 25% of my total projects. All of the other publishers sent me between 1-3 projects each. While I always enjoy working with that one publisher and I hope to continue to do so, I think this speaks to the value of working with a wide range of publishers, especially if they are fairly small companies. One or two publishers are not enough to fill my schedule, but 10+ combined keeps me fairly busy.

Indexing Highlights

Do you ever notice that certain topics can appear in waves, with two or three books in a row on a similar subject? I find that often happens to me and I wonder why. Very serendipitous. 

In the past few months I indexed two trade books on the Empress of Asia and the Empress of Ireland. These were both ocean liners owned by Canadian Pacific Steamships. The Empress of Ireland collided with another ship and sank in 1914 in the St. Lawrence River, causing the death of 1,012 people, Canada’s worst maritime disaster. The Empress of Asia had a longer career, serving in both WWI and WWII, before being sunk by the Japanese near Singapore. Reflecting their different trajectories, Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck, by Eve Lazarus (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) is tightly focused on the collision and aftermath, while Oceans of Fate: Peace and Peril Aboard the Steamship Empress of Asia, by Dan Black (Dundurn Press, 2025) follows the Asia over its 30 year lifespan. Both focus on the lives of the passengers and crew, which is what brings these harrowing stories to life. I recommend both if you enjoy maritime history. 

Taking the prize for the most unexpected subject matter is Dialectics of the Big Bang and the Absolute Existence of the Multiverse, by Gregory Phipps (University of Alberta Press, 2024). Did you know that the first second after the Big Bang can be divided into six epochs? Difficult to study empirically, and so Phipps uses Hegelian dialectics to unpack what may have happened. A fascinating read, and also very challenging to index. Philosophy is not my strong suit. Thankfully the author seemed happy with the result. 

Whither 2025?

For 2025, my keyword is margin. I want time to write, to work on the house, to spend time with Elim, and for exercise and rest. This means managing my indexing schedule so that I’m not constantly chasing deadlines and needing to work long hours. I still have an income target, which is a decent amount but also about 10% less than what my target has been in the past. And I’m okay with that. The pace of work hasn’t felt healthy or sustainable, and I don’t like feeling like there are areas of my life I am missing out on.

So here’s to finding a better balance in 2025.