Freelance Indexing

• is appropriate for the intended audience and written from the user's viewpoint
• has no more than 5-7 undifferentiated locators (page references) for any main heading or subheading
• uses see and see also cross references appropriately
• uses subheadings appropriately
• avoids unnecessary words and phrases ("concerning," "related to")
• uses a consistent and clear format
• is well edited, with accurate locators and no typos

Indexing skills

Many indexes are written by people who have never been trained in indexing. Indexing may be tacked onto the job description of a technical writer or an editor, or an author (especially for a scholarly press) may be told by his publisher that he's responsible for writing the index for his book, or for paying for the index out of his royalties. The ASI pamphlet "Authors and Indexes: Do It Yourself or Hire a Pro?" can help these individuals decide whether or not to hire a professional—and how to locate one. ASI's Indexer Locator (contact: info@asindexing.org) is distributed without charge to publishers and lists freelance indexers seeking assignments.

Indexer training

Most US indexers regard the USDA correspondence course as the "official'"indexing program. The USDA introductory course takes about a year to complete. Locally, the University of Washington Graduate School of Library and Information Science offers some indexing classes, and indexing is included in the technical writing certificate program at Bellevue Community College. Information about educational opportunities, as well as indexing as a career, is available on the ASI Web site. Self-instruction is also an avenue. Nancy Mulvaney's Indexing Books is the textbook used by the USDA course. Also, ASI has a number of extremely helpful publications about indexing and indexing specialties.

Personality traits and interests common to most indexers include:

• curiosity and a wide range of personal interests
• good editorial skills - they get heartburn from typos
• an analytical mindset that recognizes the meaning behind the words
• an addiction to crossword and jigsaw puzzles
• a high level of organization - their bookshelves and spice cabinets are arranged systematically
• comfort with computers - index cards and shoe boxes just don't cut it any more
• fanaticism about deadlines—a late index is a bad one

Indexing opportunities

Indexing is increasingly becoming a Web-based enterprise. In addition to back of the book and journal indexes, indexers are now being hired to index technical documentation, Web sites, legal materials, databases, and government documents—in short, anything that needs an organized approach to the content. Most use dedicated indexing software to write the indexes and then output the files in whatever electronic format the client wants—RTF, word processor, HTML, Quark, Framemaker, etc. See the ASI Web site for information about indexing software.

Online resources

In the pre-PC days, an indexer could set up shop with a stack of index cards, alphabetic dividers, and a typewriter. Now most of us spend our days at a keyboard. Most communication with clients is online, both for getting jobs and for delivering finished indexes; marketing and communication with colleagues also take place online. Subscriptions to a number of indexing-related discussion lists are available. The best-known list is Index-L, which is like a continuing education class for picking up indexing tips, job leads, and building relations with colleagues. Index-NW serves the same function for those of us in the Pacific Northwest.

Conclusion

Further information about indexing resources and indexing as a career is available on the ASI Web site and on the Pacific Northwest Chapter/ASI Web site. The next meeting of the Pacific Northwest chapter is August 4-5 in Richland. Please visit the Web site for the Pacific Northwest Chapter for upcoming details; nonmembers are welcome.