Welcome to another Q&A, on this last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question comes from Winona, and references a previous reflection I wrote. Winona asks: In your post on the subjective side of indexing, you write that two indexers can produce different indexes for the same book, but that there… Read More »Q&A: How to Quantify Subjectivity Across Indexes?
In some ways, I feel like I am writing today’s reflection to myself. Over this last year I’ve been focused on the business side of my freelance indexing business. Things like tightening up procedures, identifying and tracking metrics, learning to work with subcontractors. This may also mean changing who I… Read More »Fine-Tuning the Client Flywheel
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 back to another Q&A on this last Tuesday of the month. Today’s question is a little different in that it comes from a subcontractor I work with. The question was asked in response to a specific piece of advice that I gave for a previous project we worked on… Read More »Q&A: When to Draw Indexable Terms Directly from the Text?
What is required to write an excellent index? I mean, what does it actually take? Indexing is governed by a lot of rules and conventions. Every indexer, including myself, tend to have their favorite strategies and style preferences. These are important for shaping and refining the index. But is that… Read More »Fundamental Principles for Writing an Index
It’s time to dig into cross-references again, picking up where I left off two weeks ago. If you missed that first reflection, you can read it here. I had a lot more to write than I initially thought about how I use, or don’t use, cross-references, which is why I… Read More »How I Use Cross-References (Part 2)
Some time ago a client asked me how I decide when to use cross-references and why certain arrays have cross-references and not others. Which is a good question. I decided to sit down and outline all of the different scenarios in which I use—or don’t use—cross-references, and, well, the list… Read More »How I Use Cross-References (Part 1)
I’m currently indexing a history of nuclear reactors. It is about 300,000 words. Meticulously researched and written, with a strong narrative. It is a big book, and it is taking a while to get through. It is also not the only large volume I’ve indexed this year. I feel like… Read More »Indexing Big Books
Welcome back to another Q&A, on the last Tuesday of the month. How are we already at the end of April? Today’s question is about granularity: How should I judge what level of granular information the reader will be looking for? Too many subheadings with the same locator is a… Read More »Q&A: Finding the Right Level of Granularity
I’ve written before about subheadings, most recently here and here. And I’ve been reflecting on them again. Subheadings are a crucial tool for breaking down large discussions and for differentiating nuances. More can definitely be written, looking at different contexts and scenarios. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how subheadings can… Read More »Repeating and Reusing Subheadings