As an indexer, I wish every book had an index. As a fiction-reader for personal pleasure, I really wish more fiction books had indexes. Maybe it’s my increasingly forgetful nature that makes me wish this. I am forever reading a book and trying to think back, “now what was his sister’s name?” or “didn’t it […]
Reading for pleasure after reading for work
When you read all day for work, what do you read for pleasure? Obviously professionals in the publishing industry are book lovers. Otherwise we’d get different jobs. But when eight hours of your day (or thereabouts) is spent poring over books in various stages of development, do you have the ambition to read for pleasure […]
Volunteerism – To Step Up or Step Away?
Whether or not to volunteer for something is a quandary we’ve all faced – in our professional lives and in our personal lives. Do I step up or do I step away? Finding that balance between giving of yourself and saving yourself from over-commitment is an ongoing challenge. As the New England chapter of the […]
Stretching but not Overstepping Knowledge Boundaries
As with many industries, indexers need to know when to accept a project and when to walk away. We all have fields of study in which we work comfortably. Stretching the bounds of that comfort zone is healthy, but recognizing our own limitations is only fair – to our clients and ourselves. By in large, […]
Clarity is key
Clarity of goals between professionals and clients is key. In my case, clarity between indexer and client is key. Communication of the goals and constraints facing a client – whether it be targeting a particular audience, working within a certain index size constraint, capturing buzz words that are critical in a given industry, or style […]