Cross references — those little notes that tell a reader to look elsewhere in the index for information — are a much-loved tool for many indexers (Hans Wellisch gives them 10 pages in Indexing from A to Z). They’re quiet instructions, helping readers get acquainted with the author’s word choices. They neatly connect bits and pieces of the index, highlighting […]
Working with Authors’ Term Lists
Something indexers often get are term lists from authors. These can range from a handful of key concepts to a complete index, with the comment that “the index is done, and all you have to do is put in the page numbers.” Many indexers, having been faced with the latter example, reject author term lists […]
PI Day 2024: The Beauty of the Irrational
Since we are PI (Potomac Indexing), we’ve always held the mathematical constant, π, close to our hearts and use it in our logo. So, today being π day, we are duly celebrating the usefulness of this great and ultimately impossible-to-pin-down number (more on π’s wonderfully irrational and transcendental qualities at Wikipedia, here). As indexers and taxonomists, we work with […]
Indexing Time: The Mental Challenge
I’ve noticed that book indexing can be a challenging mental task, and it’s easy to underestimate how much productive time one can spend on it. We usually schedule a couple of weeks to get an indexing project done, but a lot of that is just juggling multiple deadlines. So, how long does it really take […]
Indexing Multi-Author Works
Indexing multi-author works can be a real challenge. Vocabulary control, adjusting to different writing styles, and structural decisions are all concerns. The most important thing when working on a multi-author work, whether a book of essays or a collection of previously published articles, is to make sure you have a single decision maker. This can […]
Book Indexing for Authors: Part 4
Double-posting vs. Cross-references This last section should round out our four-part look at getting a quality index done for your book (see below for a link to the whole series). Posting different versions of your indexable term or using cross-references to other related terms is very much like the hyperlinking function used to link topics […]
