Ten Characteristics of Quality Indexes: Confessions of an Award-Winning Indexer, by Margie Towery (Medford, NJ: Information Today Inc., 2016) I must confess that while I bought my copy of Margie Towery’s book shortly after it was published, and while I have dipped into it occasionally, I had not actually read… Read More »Book Review: Ten Characteristics of Quality Indexes
Deep work, as defined by Cal Newport in his book of the same title, is “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” As I was reading Newport’s… Read More »Indexing as Deep Work
This is my sixth anniversary as a freelance indexer! It was the end of October, 2012, that I left my job at Harbour Publishing and moved back to Vancouver with the intention to work for myself. That first year I received only a few projects, which I have to admit… Read More »Freelance Anniversary Reflections
Happy Hobbit Day! September 22 is apparently the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. I wonder how old they would be. Today is also a good excuse to examine the index for the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. I was quite surprised to notice, a couple of years… Read More »Indexing Fiction: The Lord of the Rings
This last week I finished the index for a large institutional history, 550 pages, including endnotes. It was one of the more challenging books I have indexed. I will not yet reveal the name of the institution, or the title or author, as the book is not yet published, but… Read More »Indexing Institutional Histories: A Case Study
Indexes for fiction seems to be a recurring topic among indexers. I do not know of anyone who has actually written an index like this, but we sure like to talk about it. Someone recently raised the issue again on one of the indexing email lists, and it just so… Read More »Indexing Fiction: The Wheel of Time Case Study
Last Saturday I presented my first webinar on indexing, hosted by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. A couple of weeks ago I gave a similar presentation to the Editors Canada twig here in Edmonton. Many thanks to both groups for allowing me to present. I learned a lot, both about… Read More »Indexing Basics, Reflections on
It has so far been a busy summer. That means tight deadlines and renewed thoughts about how to be more efficient in my indexing process. I mean, indexing is tough. It is constant analysis, understanding what the text means and discerning how to make the text accessible to readers. If… Read More »Three Indexing Mind Hacks
Experience can be tricky to define and gauge. As a freelancer, what standard do you compare yourself to? When are you no longer a “newbie”? Some professional societies, such as the UK’s Society of Indexers or Editors Canada, offer certification, which can be helpful. Many others do not offer these… Read More »Defining Experience, One Index (and One Tree) at a Time
“How long does it take to index a book, anyway?” This is one of the most common questions I am asked by non-indexers. It is a fair question. What is this alchemy of words and numbers that I do from which an index is created? Do I actually have to… Read More »How to Marinate an Index and Other Time Factors