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 can write the index if the due date can be extended by two weeks.”

I am often pleasantly surprised when the schedule proves more flexible than it initially appears. I would not have known unless I asked.

This tactic does not always work, of course. Sometimes schedules are firm and the client decides to find another indexer. But if I am interested in the project, it is always worth asking.

(Of course, some projects I am not interested in and am happy to let pass.)

It is important to remember that we, as freelancers, have agency. Simply responding to clients with a yes or no, without any further information, is letting the client control negotiations. So if a schedule or other detail does not work, make a counter-offer. Tell the client what does work. Give the client an opportunity to meet you partway. Now you are taking the initiative. The client has agency too and may reject your proposal, but at least you have spoken up for yourself and explored all options.

Similarly, if you see an upcoming gap in your schedule, contact past clients to see if they have any upcoming work. Let them know your availability. Assuming you’ve previously had a positive experience with the client and want to work with them again, contacting past clients can be one of the easiest ways to market yourself, because you already have an established rapport and track record. A short message puts you front of mind and may prompt them to take action if hiring an indexer has been on their to-do list.

Taking this a step further, schedule a regular, quarterly check-in with past clients. Say hi, let them know your upcoming availability and that you’d love to work with them on another project. Maybe include an article or other tidbit they may find interesting. Be a good and proactive partner, so that they don’t forget about you.

Being a freelancer can involve a lot of waiting for that next project and hoping that schedules align. But this waiting does not need to be passive. Remember that you have agency too. Make counter-offers. Proactively share when you are available. You may be surprised at what becomes possible. 

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 short answer, to be honest, is that I currently do not provide samples.

In the past, I would often refer clients to Amazon to view indexes I had written via the “Look Inside” feature. I would also link directly to Amazon from the portfolio on my website. I don’t often do this anymore because Amazon has become much more unreliable about making the index visible. This strategy can still work, but I would double-check that the index is still there before directing clients.

Now, I simply maintain a portfolio of recent projects on my website. I am occasionally asked for a list of similar books that I’ve indexed, to which I reply with a short list. Would it be better if I sent them an actual index or two? Possibly. But these requests do not happen very often.

I realize that samples can be more important for others, though. Especially for someone who is still building their business or if their business is primarily built on continually finding new clients (say, mostly working with one-off authors rather than repeat work from publishers). Samples can showcase your indexing skills and establish credibility. If you find yourself in this position, I definitely recommend having a few samples on hand.

Samples can either be from past client work or written specifically to be a sample. Past client work can make a stronger case because it is proof that someone else thought you good enough to hire, but a practice index can showcase your abilities equally well. You can also replace samples with better ones as you gain experience and your portfolio deepens.

If using an index that you’ve written for a previous client, I would ask for permission from the author and/or publisher. I don’t know if permission is legally necessary—that may depend on the contract you’ve signed, if any—but I think transparency can go a long way to building good will and to avoiding awkward questions later. Asking for permission also signals that you think the index is worth showcasing, and that may cause the client to themselves feel better about the index and about you as an indexer, and may make them more inclined to return as a repeat client. So be transparent. I think it unlikely that the client will say no. The worst that can happen is that you end up choosing a different index, from a different client, to use as a sample.

When selecting samples, I would aim to have a variety on hand, to represent the various types of books or subjects that I specialize in or want to write. While any sample is better than no sample, it is best if you can send the client a sample that is similar to their own book. 

Once I have permission for the samples, I would make them accessible. Post them to your website. When negotiating with potential clients, either point the client to your website or offer to send them a sample. Personally, I would not send unsolicited samples. Not all clients want them and I don’t want to come across as pushy. Better to give the client a choice.

Going beyond samples, consider creating case studies. This is something I’ve been challenged about recently and am experimenting with, though I haven’t yet finished one. By a case study, I mean taking an index and walking through your decision-making process. What were the challenges of this index? What decisions did you make to meet those challenges? Why these decisions compared to other options? Where a sample simply presents an index for viewing, a case study unpacks the work that went into the index, showcasing your expertise and judgment. A case study can be more work to put together, but can also be more valuable.

If you don’t yet have any samples or case studies, I would begin by selecting, asking permission, and making accessible a few samples. Once those are in place, consider turning one or two of the samples into a case study. Experiment and see how potential clients respond and if either samples or case studies make a difference in landing projects.

Clients want to know that they are making the right decision in hiring you. There can be various ways to provide that reassurance, including positive recommendations or testimonials; an online portfolio or list of similar books indexed; or articles, blog posts, or conference presentations which highlight your authority and expertise. Samples and case studies can also add credibility. Ultimately, be able to show and explain that you know what you are doing. 

I received a thoughtful reply (thank you!), which prompted me to think further about the differences between authors and publishers as clients, and of how the two overlap.

The specific client mix is going to be different for each indexer. Some indexers work almost exclusively with authors. Other indexers, like myself, tend to work more with publishers.

There is no right or wrong client mix. You should aim for whoever is comfortable to work with and whoever is best able to meet your business goals. Your client mix may also reflect your personal background and connections. That said, there are also pros and cons to different types of clients. It can be helpful to keep these differences in mind when building and fine-tuning your client mix. 

Authors as Clients

Authors are fairly self-evident. They are either the person who (co-)wrote the book or the volume editor. Authors may be self-published, or the press has passed on the responsibility for the index to the author. Authors may pay out-of-pocket or, especially if they are academics, be using university funds. When the author is the client, you communicate and negotiate directly with the author, not the press.

The benefits of working directly with authors are that they:

• May have a larger budget, especially if they are drawing on university funds.
• Can be an effective source of referrals.
• Tend to be one-off contracts, so if the experience goes poorly, you less likely need to consider working with them again. 

The downsides to working with authors are that they:

• May have a smaller budget, especially if paying out-of-pocket.
• May require more educating about the indexing and publishing process.
• May not communicate effectively about schedules and other important details, either because they don’t understand the production process or because they are busy and forget.
• Being individuals, each author likely represents a single book. Authors can become repeat clients if they write and publish multiple books, but at best that is likely a new book every year or two. Maintaining a full schedule of authors means building and maintaining a large pipeline. 

Publishers as Clients

Publishers, in contrast, come with a different set of benefits and challenges. By publishers, I mean traditional presses, hybrid publishers, and book packagers. Basically, any larger company producing multiple books. Publishers may hire directly or be a source of referrals to authors.

The advantages to working with publishers includes:

• Repeat and regular work, if the publisher is able to send multiple books per year.
• Assuming multiple books per publisher, fewer publishers are needed to fill a schedule.
• Better understanding and communication about the production process and indexing specs.

The main disadvantages to working with publishers are:

• Smaller and fixed budgets (often, but not always).
• Risk of losing a larger chunk of work if the publisher leaves.

So far, it seems pretty straightforward. Authors can require more work to find and work with, but with greater potential financial reward. Publishers can be easier to work with and provide a greater sense of security by filling up a larger portion of the schedule, but they may not pay as well and losing a publisher as a client can be more devastating. 

There are two further nuances worth paying attention to.

Where Are Those Authors Coming From?

It can be an illuminating exercise to ask how authors find you. Are they coming via your website? A Find an Indexer listing? Referral from a friend or colleague? Or are they being referred by their publisher?

Most academic presses do not hire directly. Instead, they make the index the author’s responsibility and may give the author a list of recommended indexers. It can appear that you are being contacted by a lot of different authors (and you are), but look closer and you realize they are all being recommended by the same handful of presses. This has been my experience, for the most part.

At this point, who is actually the client? The authors are clearly clients, since they are the ones negotiating and paying. But I would suggest that the publisher is also a client. Getting those referrals requires somehow getting onto that list of recommended indexers, which likely requires marketing directly to the publisher. Being on that list, while a valuable source of referrals, also exposes you to the risk of losing all of those referrals should the press stop recommending you. 

So if you want to work primarily with authors, keep a couple of points in mind:

• The best way to reach authors may actually be to market to publishers, to get onto their recommendations list.
• Try to be referred by multiple publishers. This spreads out the risk of losing work should one source of referrals end. 

When Editors Move

If the publisher is the client, you are likely in contact with a specific editor. If it is a larger press, you may be in touch with more than one editor. The challenge is that editors can move.

An editor moving isn’t necessarily terrible news for you. The editor may take you with them to their new position and continue to hire. The editor may also pass your name to their successor, and you continue to work for that publisher. But just as often, I find, the editor doesn’t need indexers in their new position, or they don’t pass your name on, or their successor already has their own list of freelancers. It may be several months before you clue into the fact that a contact has moved, and trying to get re-established with a publisher can be like marketing to a new client. 

All that to say, while publishers can be a great source of reliable work, the real client is perhaps the editor. And editors can be much more transient. Positive relationships can end unexpectedly through no fault of your own.

To manage the risk, try to connect to multiple editors at a press (if the press is large enough to have multiple editors) or ask your contact for referrals to their colleagues. Also, work with multiple publishers. While some relationships will hopefully be long-lasting, assuming that others will end. Spread out the risk by working with a variety of publishers. 

I don’t want this post to be discouraging with all this talk about risk and the downsides to different types of clients. It is possible to thrive as a freelance indexer working primarily with authors, or primarily with publishers, or a mix of both. 

To thrive, though, I think it helps to understand who you are working with, so that you can adjust your marketing, scheduling, communication, and expectations. If you want to change or grow your business, then that may mean changing who your clients are, and how you approach marketing, communication, scheduling, etc…

Know who your clients are. Identify any weaknesses or risks. Adjust to strengthen your client base and put your business on a more sustainable footing to better withstand inevitable changes. 

I don’t want to change the publishers and authors that I work with. There are a handful of publishers I’ve worked with for almost as long as I’ve been freelancing. I am grateful for these long-standing relationships and would hate to lose them. Yet as my business changes, I wonder if some of my clients and I will part ways.

My main concern, right now, is with price. I have been raising my prices to help raise my income to a level which is in line with my current financial needs and goals. I had a good discussion earlier this year with one of my anchor clients in which my contact acknowledged that they want to continue to work with me and that they want to pay me fairly, and yet there is a limit to how much of a price increase they can accommodate. We did settle on an increase, for which I am thankful. I would be very sad to lose this client. Yet a part of me is still uneasy, wondering about the next time we have this conversation.

For me, a key part of running a sustainable indexing business is having a diverse mix of clients and projects. Even my biggest clients provide no more than fifteen or twenty percent of my total income. I currently work with about fifteen different publishers, both trade and scholarly, who either hire me directly or refer me to their authors. Some of these publishers only hire or refer me for one or two books per year, but cumulatively it all add up. 

I don’t want to be too dependent on any one source because clients come and go. Over the fifteen years I’ve been freelancing, it has happened at least five or six times that a publisher I’ve worked with has gone out of business, was downsized, my main contact left, or… I don’t fully know the reason why I stopped hearing from them. But because I have a diverse mix of clients, occasionally losing one, while sad, doesn’t make much of a difference to my schedule. There are enough other offers coming in to fill the gap.

Maintaining a good mix also means that I am not tied to any single production schedule. Publishers tend to follow an internal production cycle, which depends on the types of books they publish and the audience they sell to. Think trade publishers releasing books in time for Christmas or textbook publishers preparing for the start of the next academic year. By working with a variety of publishers, there are certain times of the year I may index more trade, other times of the year more scholarly. Either way, my schedule stays full. 

A mix of projects also provides variety and respite. Some books are more of a grind to read and index. Having a different subject to switch to, or a different audience, can feel like a break even if it is still indexing.

So if you are a newer indexer, I recommend diversifying your client base and project mix. Specializing can be a excellent tactic to be distinctive and to simplify marketing, as well as to play to your strengths and subject expertise, but try to have three or four specialities, not just one. An anchor client or two who send multiple projects per year is great, but don’t stop there. Try to have at least six publishers, if not a dozen, who regularly offer work. If you primarily work with authors, be intentional about asking for referrals and expanding your network. The best way to ensure steady work is to have work from multiple sources. 

Over time, a wide client base should self-perpetuate. Satisfied clients become regular, repeat clients. Satisfied clients also pass your name along, leading to new clients. The need to actively market lessens because enough offers keep coming in. This has been my experience over the last several years. It is an excellent and fortunate position to be in. 

And yet.

As my business goals change, as I seek to optimize income, as I seek projects and clients which are a better fit for me, I may also need to proactively shift who I work with.

This is the part which is a pep talk for myself, because change is hard. I want my clients to like me. I don’t want to say no to reliable sources of work. Yet while serving the client is important, I need to remember that my business also exists to serve me. I am choosing to freelance in order to earn a certain level of income and to have a measure of control and flexibility in how I work. My client and project mix should support these goals as well.

I am not planning on making drastic changes, but I think I do need to be prepared for some change. I need to be prepared that I may price out clients as I raise rates. Being proactive, I can identify and fire my lowest paying clients, to make room for those with larger budgets. I can also look to see which books and subjects are most lucrative for me to index and which I earn the least on. Either I need to raise prices for those low performers or I need to turn down those offers and focus marketing on what I am good at. I want to maintain a diverse mix of clients, while also acknowledging that there are likely potential clients out there who are a better fit for my current goals whom I am not yet working with. The trick is to somehow find them. 

For experienced indexers, I think it is important to periodically check in with our business goals and to see if our current work aligns. Change can feel risky, especially if everything seems to be going alright. But improvements can often be made. Change can be incremental, more like adjusting the course. Change does not need to be wholesale reinvention. 

Whether you are a new indexer or experienced, how do you find your current mix of clients and projects? Are there any relationships you want to keep and strengthen? Any clients you want to get rid of? A dream client you have yet to land?

Counterintuitively, I enjoy indexing because it is difficult. Sure, there are plenty of days I complain about a chapter being too obtuse or I’m anxious because an index is taking longer to edit than I anticipated. But if writing an index were easy, I’d lose interest and want to do something else.

I’ve been thinking of this in the context of a recent article by Rebecca Solnit, published in The Guardian. Solnit writes about the lies that Big Tech tells us, including about AI, and what we can do to resist.  One of the lies that really resonated with me is that our work is too difficult. Why should we have to do hard things ourselves? Better to give it to AI to do on our behalf. 

What Solnit points out, as does Oliver Burkeman in his book Four Thousand Weeks (which I also highly recommend), is that it is often the friction in our work and daily interactions that makes life meaningful. By friction, they don’t mean conflict, but rather things like needing to interact with a human barista to order a coffee as opposed to ordering through an app or screen. For me, tasks with good friction would also include mowing the lawn or shoveling snow, which, while involving time and effort on my part, are also opportunities to be physically active outdoors in the fresh air away from my computer screen. Or, the friction involved in writing an index. For me, at least, it is the intellectual labor of problem-solving and learning interesting things, along with feeling like I am part of a larger team working together to produce the finished book, that makes indexing a meaningful and worthwhile endeavor. 

Of course, no one wants their life to be all friction. What is a pleasurable challenge for one person may be someone else’s mind-numbing drudgery. For me, while I probably could design a new website for myself, it is not my top interest or skillset and I’m happy to hire someone else. I also see this with authors and publishers who hire me to write an index. Could they write the index themselves? Probably, given enough time and maybe some coaching. But they already have enough difficult things to do and hiring an indexer is easier. 

So the value of work, for our satisfaction and well-being, lies partly in its difficulty and our ability to overcome that difficulty, yet we don’t want everything in our lives to be difficult. Doesn’t this swing back around to the value of AI or other Big Tech tools? Why hire a web designer or an indexer when you can instead hire an AI tool to do the work for significantly cheaper and faster?

I think this speaks to another lie that Solnit identifies, which is the scarcity of people. It is too hard to find someone qualified and available. They probably don’t exist anyway. Better to use AI, which is always available.

I think this lie is quite insidious and perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we, as a society and industry, don’t nurture human talent, is it any wonder that it may disappear? But that human talent does exist. And the friction of interacting with other people, to delegate and work together, makes the work more meaningful. It cuts through the isolation of being siloed alone with my computer and whatever apps Big Tech sells me.

I am concerned about the new AI indexing tools which are being developed. There is the concern of whether those tools will ever develop to the point of being legitimate competition to the quality of human-written indexes. There is the concern of whether some publishers, in their push to industrialize publishing and squeeze out all the profit for themselves, will use AI anyway, despite quality issues, simply because it is cheaper and faster. Those are excellent concerns and worth paying attention to.

But what feels even more existential to me is the question, do I even want to work with AI indexing tools? Even if I could leverage such tools to work five or ten times faster, indexing ten or fifteen books per month instead of three to five, would I still enjoy the work? Would writing an index still be a satisfying intellectual puzzle? Or would I be delegating most of that intellectual labor to the machine, and churning out indexes too quickly to meaningfully absorb and process what I am reading and piecing together?

I think the answer is no, I would not enjoy that kind of work.

I have to admit I am starting to think about how I may exit indexing if the industry changes too much and human-written indexes are no longer valued. What else could I possibly do where I can continue to problem-solve, be creative, and still feel like I am part of a community of people?

Thankfully, I don’t think I need to make a decision yet. The silver-lining, perhaps, is that the publishing industry is vast and segmented. Even if some segments turn to AI tools—and I’m pretty sure some will, the same segments that are already heavily invested in contracting to offshore companies and industrializing the production process as much as possible—I’m hopeful that not all segments will. Some publishers are still committed to creating quality books and to working with human freelancers. 

I don’t want to be completely against AI. It sounds like there are some areas in which it is genuinely useful. And I don’t want to alarm you too much, especially if you are new to indexing. I want to believe there is still a future for human indexers, and that the work will continue to be challenging and meaningful in all the right ways.

I think it is also important to try to be aware of new developments and to think through all implications, beyond the hype and lies that Big Tech wants us to focus on. 

If AI tools are adopted by indexers and in the publishing industry, they need to be accurate and reliable, obviously. But more than that, they need to support human work and human workers. Replacing indexers (and editors, designers, etc…) does not make for a healthy work environment, nor, I would suggest, for books that are written and produced with humans in mind. For an industry and world in which humans can thrive, people need to be kept at the forefront. 

I’m looking to get into the business of freelance indexing, and I am wondering if the primarily bottleneck to taking on new jobs is finding them or simply having the time to even manage more and more clients every month?

Thank you for the question. There are a couple of things to unpack here, starting with what makes starting a freelance business so difficult.

One factor, definitely, as noted, is finding work. A freelance business isn’t going anywhere without clients or projects. So when starting, one of the first tasks is to market. Marketing can be as simple as asking family, friends, and acquaintances for referrals. Marketing can also be more involved, such as researching and contacting publishers that you’d like to work with. However you decide to go about marketing, yes, finding clients and projects is an important bottleneck to break through while developing a freelance indexing business.

Another important bottleneck is acquiring and building indexing skills. In addition to landing projects, you want to make sure that you are doing a good job. This is important for building your reputation and for encouraging repeat clients and referrals. Long term, filling your schedule is going to be much easier with referrals and repeat clients, as opposed to constantly needing to find new clients because past clients don’t want to return. So to avoid client churn, focus on delivering excellent work. (And, on a related note, be someone who is easy to work with.)

If just starting out, building indexing skills can feel like the classic chicken and egg dilemma. Should you focus on developing skills first and then look for work? Or can you go ahead and look for work, knowing that your skills are still a work in progress? I think you can go ahead and start looking for work, so long as you know more than the client. But remain open to feedback and be intentional about continuing to learn. Treat each project as an opportunity to practice. It may take time for your skills to improve, and you may lose some clients along the way if mistakes are made, but the important thing is to be aware of those mistakes and to keep trying to do better next time. After fourteen years of indexing, I am still on the lookout for ways to improve. Over time, as your indexes get better, repeat work and referrals should come.

The last point I want to explore is the question of time and client management. With the question phrased as “having the time to even manage more and more clients every month?” I wonder how many clients or projects you anticipate each month. For myself, I usually index 4 to 6 books per month. I am also in contact with clients about potential upcoming projects, whether negotiating details or checking in to see if proofs are on schedule. Many of these projects are for repeat clients, which usually means less management on my part because we have a history and certain details are already settled. So for me, at least, client management usually does not require a lot of time.

If anyone requires a lot of time, it is usually new clients, especially authors who may not know much about indexing or publishing. These can require additional work educating them about the process or explaining what I need to do my part, though I also use boilerplate language that I can customize, which helps to cut down on the time needed. 

As more work comes in, you will need to figure how how much work you can reasonably accommodate. More work may also prompt you to figure out how to streamline your process so that you can index more quickly (I still think about how to index more efficiently). More indexing work can also mean less time to market. This is where repeat work and referrals come in handy because once those relationships and systems are in place, they often don’t require much maintenance. But if you are having trouble retaining clients, or if you want to expand or shift clients, perhaps to indexing a different type of book or to higher paying clients, then that will require a new marketing effort, which can be difficult to find time for.

For now, though, when starting out, I think the main bottlenecks are finding those first few jobs and building your indexing skills. Gaining experience is tough, but if you keep at it, your efforts should begin to snowball. Focus on delivering excellent work and service, and clients should return or pass your name along. Once that happens, finding work should be easier, your schedule will begin to fill up, and you are moving past being a brand new freelancer.

Today’s question comes from Reed, who asks,

How do you manage the stress of lulls between projects? I’m still in my first couple of years and I usually end up with enough work, but sometimes there are weeks at a time where things are very slow.

I am glad to hear you have enough work most of the time. I remember when I began freelancing. It took about three years for me to feel like I was consistently getting enough work.

I also hear you on how stressful lulls between projects can be. Even if we can reasonably assume that more work will arrive in the near future, the uncertainty about when that work will arrive and where it will come from is stressful. Especially if there are also bills to pay or another reason for needing the work. 

I’m not certain if I am the best person to answer, to be honest. It has been several years since I’ve experienced a significant unexpected lull. I do experience times when work slows down, or the volume of queries drops, or projects are delayed, but I almost always have proofs for at least one project on my desktop. If anything, I wouldn’t mind a few lulls now and again to catch up on other tasks. If I want time off, I need to book it in advance and tell my clients that I am not available.

So, my problem right now is more like the flip side to yours. Maybe you’ll find this encouraging, in that as your business grows, lulls should decrease in frequency and length.

But still, what to do about the lulls now?

My first suggestion is to take advantage of these lulls to do something else. As the adage goes, what opportunity does this enable? You can’t directly control when clients offer you work, but you can decide how to use your time. Do you have business admin or business development projects waiting to be completed? Are there chores around the house that need to be done? Or do you want to take the day off? Perhaps keep a to-do list of non-urgent tasks specifically for these lulls, to take your mind off worrying and to continue to move your life or business forward.

My second suggestion, to help reduce the frequency and duration of these lulls, is to work on widening your client base. Part of what keeps my schedule full, I think, is that about a dozen different publishers regularly either hire me directly or refer me to authors. Further, about half my work is indexing scholarly books and about half is trade. This matters because every publisher, as well as scholarly versus trade more broadly, follow somewhat different schedules. With a diverse client base, I don’t expect work from every publisher all the time. Some publishers only send me 2-3 books per year, which is nowhere near enough for a full schedule. But cumulatively, the projects add up. I can be reasonably certain that a project will arrive, even if I don’t know from where. So perhaps look at who your clients typically are, and see if you can both find a few new regular clients and find different clients than who you are currently working with. Aim for diversity. 

Lastly, be proactive drumming up new work. I’m not sure how comfortable you are marketing; it is definitely not my favorite task. But instead of waiting for work to come along, it’s acceptable to check in with past clients and say, “I’m available!” You never know what that may lead to. Or, as I mentioned, try reaching out to new potential clients, to widen your client base and as one of the tasks you can do during a lull.

Lulls between projects can certainly be stressful. They also pass. And as freelancers, we also need time to work on our own businesses. While client work pays the bills, business development keeps the business alive and healthy. So while working towards reducing the frequency and duration of lulls, also try seeing these lulls as an opportunity. 

And keep going. Sounds like you are in a good place, Reed. I hope your indexing business continues to grow. Thank you for your question.

Which is a very good question. Especially working alone, as freelancers tend to do, it can be tough to gauge our own skills.

I often feel like responding, “You’re probably ready right now. Go for it.”

And maybe they are ready, and maybe they are not. I’d need to learn more about their experience and see some of their work to have a better sense. But I’m also convinced that most people are more ready than they realize, and that the best way to learn and improve is by doing.

Let me elaborate:

• If you have completed an indexing course, you now know far more about indexing than the average author or editor. Granted, hands-on experience is also needed to put those lessons into practice. But all of that knowledge puts you into an excellent starting position.
• You have put in some practice. This can either be writing practice indexes, whether for books on your shelf or volunteering to write an index for someone else. Practice can also be critiquing existing indexes, both well-written indexes and poor. While I didn’t plan to learn about indexing, this is how I got started. Working at UBC Press during a four month Arts Co-op placement, I was handed a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style’s indexing chapter and the press’s guidelines and told to proofread indexes that had been submitted for publication. You can do the same. See how well indexes compare to best practices. What works, and why? What doesn’t work, and why? What would you do differently?
• Commit to continuing to learn. I see skill-building as an iterative process. Write a few indexes, attend a conference, (re)read books or articles, talk to other indexers, reflect on the indexes you have written, try a new approach, write a few more indexes. The first award I won, the Purple Pen Award, in 2014, was a direct result of Margie Towery’s presentation at the ISC/SCI conference in Toronto, on Towery’s ten characteristics of quality indexes (which is now an excellent book). What Towery taught was exactly what I needed to hear at that time, and yet it only made sense because I had enough experience to understand what she was talking about and to recognize, at least in part, where my indexes fell short. So don’t be afraid to index, even if the indexes are not perfect. The act of doing, combined with reflection and learning, will help you improve.
• Accept that mistakes happen. If the client comes back requesting changes, then take the opportunity to correct. Otherwise, move on, learn, and try to do better next time. I don’t think it is possible to write a perfect index.
• Understand that indexers can be their own harshest critics. I mean this in the sense that I can be my harshest critic and in the sense that when indexers critique each other’s work, we can see issues that authors and editors often don’t see because we know what to look for. What matters is that the client is happy. Take advantage of that knowledge gap to deliver indexes that are still competently written, better than what the client could have done, while also continuing to learn and improve. (Of course, some clients can be very picky and hands-on, and sometimes they raise valid issues and other times not, but that’s a different issue.)

Getting started as an indexer is difficult. Especially finding and landing that first job, and especially feeling like you are qualified to even begin looking for work. 

I want to encourage you that yes, you can begin looking for indexing work. If you’ve made the effort to gain some training and to practice, you are already ahead of most authors and editors—the people who are most likely to hire you. Being new, there is probably a lot more that you can learn about writing an excellent index. But you can still begin your freelancing career and continue to learn at the same time. You don’t have to wait until you are a seasoned pro. You can start right now and build up.

With a full schedule also comes scheduling challenges. Part of this is on my end, if I underestimate how long an index will take to write or if something else comes up that sets me back. Running late on one project can snowball into the next, and before I know it I’m running behind for the next few weeks trying to catch up.

On the other end are clients with delayed, shifting, or vague schedules. Sometimes this works to my advantage. I’ve had two projects originally slated to begin in September which I am thankful are now delayed. Sometimes this works against me. It seems like almost every project I’ve been offered for November and December have come with the qualifiers “maybe” or “probably.” Should I expect three or four proofs to all arrive at once or for the indexes to all be due in the same week? Or will they be nicely staggered? I don’t know. 

All of this busyness and uncertainty has prompted me to think more intentionally about how I book and schedule projects. While I do keep a fairly full schedule, I don’t enjoy being too busy and feeling overwhelmed. 

I’m being more intentional in the following ways:

• Checking in with clients a month before proofs are due. Sometimes, even two or three months in advance, if the original schedule was tentative and I’m trying to see if I have space for another project. In the past, I would check in with some clients, but not all. My new policy is to check in with all clients. It is not that I don’t trust my clients, but rather an acknowledgment that even my best clients are often busy and may forget to send an update. More importantly, I need to be responsible for my schedule. Being proactive about checking in is giving me a greater sense of confidence in my schedule, and, so far, has helped to identify a couple of delays earlier than I would have otherwise heard. 
• Being open with the client if I am not a hundred percent confident about the schedule. This may mean telling them that I can’t fully commit until they give me firm dates. This may also mean being honest that I have a number of other potentially overlapping projects at that time and that I don’t fully know what my schedule will look like. Being open like this accomplishes two things. One, it gives the client an out if the client prefers an indexer with a lighter schedule and a firmer yes. Which has happened and I don’t blame the client for going elsewhere. Two, it gives me an out if my schedule becomes too full. When I accept a project, I fully intend to do my best to honor my commitment, but if my schedule turns out to be truly too full, I don’t want to be stuck juggling too much.
• Develop my subcontracting capacity. I’ve begun telling potential clients, especially if I’m uncertain about the schedule, that I may want to bring on a subcontractor. This gives me another option without having to give up the project entirely. I don’t want to spring this on the client at the last minute, and so I am bringing this up early in case the client is not comfortable. In terms of developing subcontracting capacity, I am creating resources for subcontractors, including my own style guide, and providing a lot of feedback so that the subcontractor and I can learn to be on the same page.

I am already seeing benefits from this more proactive approach. By being more open, I am not making unrealistic promises and I’m presenting different options for delivering the index on time. I’m able to learn sooner if there is flexibility with the schedule. I feel more confident that I have the support in place to deal with unexpected shifts without too much additional stress. 

Subcontracting on a more regular basis, like I am trying to develop, as opposed to maybe a couple of times a year, is a change for me and still a work in progress. I’ll have a better sense in a few months how it is going. But I’m pleased so far and am feeling hopeful. 

I have long thought of myself as a small, one-person business. Managing a host of subcontractors and producing hundreds of indexes per year does not appear to me. And yet I do feel my limits as a single person. Perhaps what I want is to remain a small business while also having good support, a buffer against the uncertainty and the shifting and overlapping schedules. I think scheduling will always be a challenge, but it can be anticipated and managed. That is what I am trying to become better at.

This is partly driven by external factors, often the need to earn a little more due to changing financial needs. I’m no longer the twenty-something kid I was when I first began freelancing, renting a small room in a dilapidated former convent and cruising around Vancouver on my secondhand touring bike. Those were the days, with no money and no responsibilities.

Partly, I’ve also realized, I don’t enjoy doing the same thing over and over again. I find it gets repetitive and boring. In a way, indexing is perfect for this because projects are usually finished within a few weeks and I can move onto the next book. On the other hand, constantly cycling through projects can itself become repetitive. I don’t need to completely change my business to inject a sense of freshness and excitement, but I do need some change, some outlet for experimentation and growth.

While contemplating change, though, I also want to look back on what I’ve done. Today, I want to reflect on my decision to double-down on indexing, which may be of interest to some of you as you also work on building your own businesses.

It’s common for indexers to offer multiple services, usually other tasks within the book production process, such as copyediting or proofreading. I did this too when I began freelancing. This strategy has a lot of value. Offering more services may appeal to a wider clientele, which can lead to more projects and a fuller schedule. More services may also mean working with individual clients longer, contributing more to their books. Switching between tasks can also be a mental break and help prevent boredom and burnout. 

And yet, offering too many services may also lead to certain problems. Such as,

• Feeling spread too thin
• Not having enough time and opportunity to deepen skills
• Offering a service that you don’t actually enjoy
• Offering a service that doesn’t pay well
• Lacking a clear brand or reputation

If any of these issues feel true for you, you may want to consider narrowing your focus and leaning into a niche.

This is what I’ve done as a freelance indexer. Indexing has always been my main focus, but when I first began freelancing, I also offered proofreading and image research services. Image research quickly dropped off, as that was only really for one former employer, but I continued proofreading until three or four years ago, when I finally told my last proofreading client that I was no longer available.

I decided to double-down on indexing for a few reasons:

• To do more of what I enjoy. While proofreading wasn’t bad, I enjoy indexing more. It was getting to the point where I often had to pass on indexing opportunities because I was already committed to a proofreading project, and that bugged me.
• A clearer focus. I’m not an effective multitasker. I find I’m able to get more done when my focus is narrow, and that includes focusing my business on a single service.
• More income. I realized that I was earning more per hour indexing than I was proofreading. Financially, it made sense to focus on my more lucrative skill. That said, I am not saying that indexing inherently pays better. I know editors who have come to the opposite conclusion, dropping indexing to build their editing business. What I am saying is to pay attention to the services you offer, to how you charge for each, and to how much you are able to earn. Some services may be earning more than others, which may mean that you need to adjust your pricing or that the lower paying service should be retired.
• Develop my skills. Since I enjoyed indexing more, I decided that this was the area where I wanted to develop my skills as much as possible. Having a single focus meant I had more time and opportunity to practice and grow.
• Build my reputation. When authors and publishers hear my name, I want them to think indexing. I think that is easier to accomplish when indexing is all I do. 

Leaning into indexing took time. I did not stop proofreading overnight. I first stopped accepting new proofreading clients, grandfathering in existing clients. Over the next few years I gradually accepted more indexing projects and eventually told my proofreading clients that I was no longer available. I think I could have stopped proofreading sooner, but I have to admit it was hard to say no to editors I had worked with for years. (Though thankfully, a couple of them still hire me to index!)

All that said, while I do consider indexing to be my niche, can I really say that I am solely focused on indexing? I do have this newsletter, after all, and have written and published Book Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide. Maybe I’ve simply replaced proofreading with writing and haven’t really doubled-down on a niche after all.

I think the answer is yes and no. Yes, I also write and I want to continue writing. As I wrote at the beginning, I need a creative outlet. I don’t want to index a hundred percent of the time. And yet indexing is where I earn my income, and most of my writing, for now, is about indexing. Indexing remains my niche and I am happy to be here.

Perhaps another way to put this is to say that now that I am more established as an indexer, I am in a more solid position to branch out again. Leaning into this niche used to be the new thing that I pursued to grow my business. That has worked to bring me to where I am now, and now I am ready for the next new thing (though I expect to remain an indexer for a long time to come). And so I circle back to this question of change. 

Perhaps what I am really trying to say is that there is no single way to grow a freelance business. And that the strategies we use can change over time. What matters is being mindful. Pay attention to what kind of business you want to have. Pay attention to the services you offer. Pay attention to your clients and whether or not they are a good fit with your goals and services.

As a one-person business, I know that I can’t do everything myself and that I can’t serve every potential client out there. And so who do I serve and what do I do? Whether you offer one service or multiple, consider finding a niche and leaning in. Create a space for yourself and become the best that you can be.