I’ve had some interesting additions to indexes during author reviews, mostly about adding in additional mentions of names. One point of occasional tension between book indexers and authors will be how to handle names in the index. Authors have a tendency to lean in the direction of every-mention-of-every-name, or at least “every-mention-of-names-that-are-important-to-me.” 🙂 Meanwhile, the […]
Using Project Management Systems
As freelancers, we are not just indexers but business owners—which means we have more responsibilities than just creating indexes. We are responsible for marketing, accounting, technical support, even filing. Even though any or all of this can be outsourced—even indexes can be subcontracted—it all still needs to be managed. You can go with an analog […]
It’s the Experience, Really!
Steve Jobs was right. Give the customer an experience, not just a product. And that applies just as well to those of us providing freelance services in the publishing industry. I see the customer experience as being 50% product quality, 50% customer service. In the end, my job is to service the customer experience. Product […]
Estimating Index Size
One of the best ways to cut down on editing time is to make sure your index is the right size in the first place. Not all clients will give you a length requirement to fill, but when they do, it’s easier to have an index that’s the right size than to have to edit […]
Building an Online Library
Here at PI, we are finding more small-scale consulting and special interest businesses looking to build virtual libraries of information for their users. And they are often coming from a place where they don’t quite know what “pieces” they need to get this done in a way that’s useful. Their project is too big for […]
Tips for Focusing on a Tight Deadline
While it’s commonplace to hear people say they work best on a tight deadline, it’s something I prefer not to do. However, freelancing means sometimes (often), it’s necessary. So you have a rush job. Tight deadlines happen for lots of reasons. Working with many different clients means you can have overlapping schedules. Often these schedules […]
