Two Saturdays ago I co-presented a webinar with François Trahan, for the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI). The topic was best practices. We drew upon our experience serving together on the ISC/SCI Awards Committee, which administers the Ewart-Daveluy Award. We had an excellent turnout. Many thanks if you… Read More »Incorporating Indexing Best Practices
If you don’t already do this, I highly recommend you begin. 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… Read More »Share Your Availability
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about fine-tuning the client flywheel, in which I discussed the value of having a diverse client base and considered shifts I may need to make as I grow my business. I received a thoughtful reply (thank you!), which prompted me to think further… Read More »Who Are Your Indexing Clients?
You’d think after freelancing now for about fifteen years that I’d be better at turning down work that isn’t in my wheelhouse. It is not that I can’t figure out how to index such books; I’ve indexed enough diverse subjects that I kind of think I could index most anything.… Read More »Help! Indexing a Book I Don’t Understand
Welcome to another Q&A on this last Tuesday of the month! Today’s question is: A couple of times you referred to a mind map. Creating and using a mind map is a topic I’d benefit from your addressing in a future newsletter, if possible. Certainly. I’m happy to discuss mind… Read More »Q&A: How to Use Mind Maps When Indexing?
It is once again the last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question seems appropriate in anticipation of the New Year, as it is about beginning a freelance indexing career. The question is: I’m looking to get into the business of freelance indexing, and I am wondering if the primarily bottleneck… Read More »Q&A: Biggest Bottlenecks Starting as an Indexer?
Welcome to this month’s Q&A. I have to admit I am enjoying these. You all are asking some great, practical questions, which are getting me to think. 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… Read More »Q&A: Dealing with Lulls Between Projects
Fall is off to a roaring start for me. September was busy. October is so far a little slower, which is good as I am still catching up on projects I didn’t complete in September. And November and December are shaping up to also be full. With a full schedule… Read More »Taming Schedules, Trying to
Before I begin another mini-series, I want to touch on a topic that has been on my mind again recently, which is turning down projects that I don’t want. This has been a persistent struggle for me throughout my freelancing career. As a new freelancer, FOMO, or the fear of… Read More »Learning to Say No (to Projects)
Last time I wrote about reading like an indexer and what it is I do and look for when reading a text and writing the rough draft of an index. Today I’d like to reflect on my editing process. A few months ago I started tracking my time when I… Read More »My Index Editing Process