We hear about how people tend to treat the urgent as important, as an emergency. Business coaches preach prioritization and boundaries, saying “no” or “yes, but …” or “yes, later …” But what about when we get really good at ignoring maintenance in favor of deadlines? Freelancers have a different relationship to urgent than office […]
Tips for Indexing New Editions
We often index second — or third, or thirteenth — editions for clients, which means we often address a tricky part of indexing: the update. Sounds simple; you just change the page numbers, right? Not really. The text is a revised edition, not a reprint, which means the content has changed. It’s been moved around, […]
Juggling Multiple Projects
Some indexers prefer to have more than one index at a time, and others don’t. No matter what your preference, you can’t always avoid slipped schedules and project pile-ups. There are several ways to handle the balancing act of colliding deadlines, and no one way is better than the other, although you’ll find that one […]
Working (or not) While Sick
It’s winter, and we’re in the midst of a triple threat illness season — COVID-19, RSV, and flu. So you’re sick, and your doctor recommends you rest, or you’re caring for a family member who’s sick. Too bad deadlines don’t take doctor’s notes. If you’re lucky and you frontloaded your current project, and/or you have […]
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 […]
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 […]
