From the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI)
Curious about indexing and considering adding it to your editorial toolkit? Learn a bit more about the differences and similarities between editing and indexing in this interview with Dr Camille Nurka by Susan Pierotti AE – both are members of IPEd and ANZSI – on a combined editing/indexing career.
As an editor, how did you get into indexing?
The first index I ever did was for Carolyn Stevens’ book The Beatles in Japan, which I had copyedited. I was super nervous about it because I’d never done an index before, but Carolyn was lovely and made me feel comfortable about doing one. I taught myself using the Chicago manual of style, still an indexing bible for me. I also didn’t have indexing software, so I compiled it all in Word. Carolyn was particularly fond of my entry “Ono, Yoko: as seductress”!
After a few more indexes, I took a short course in 2022 with the wonderful indexing guru Max McMaster, who was generous with his time, taught me a lot and reassured me that I was doing the right things. I later invested in Cindex (indexing software), which has made my job so much easier!
What type of texts do you mainly edit and index?
I only index scholarly books in the humanities, usually history, because that’s my specialisation and where I am best known as a copyeditor. I don’t get indexing work directly from publishers but from editorial clients.
How do you change your approach to working on a text when you are editing and when you are indexing?
Great question! In some ways, they are similar as both require attention to detail with an awareness of the broader narrative, but editing and indexing are very different beasts.
Editing is about linear reading and creating narrative flow. When I’m editing, I put myself in the position of a reader who wants a sensible and coherent reading experience that gets them from A to Z in a logical, clear and elegant fashion. I think about whether the narrative makes sense while paying attention to the granular mechanics of language (grammar, punctuation, consistency and so on).
Indexing is a nonlinear, multidirectional way of structuring a book, listing interrelated terms that lead the reader to relevant pieces of information. When I’m indexing, I drill down into individual terms with an awareness of the broader themes of the book. I first scan the book title, chapter titles and section subheads to get a sense of the broad themes covered in the book that can serve as main entries. Then I drill down into the minutiae of people, places, objects and concepts, doing lots of double-posting and cross-referencing as I go. For instance:
Cold War: and spies
See also ASIO
Spies: and Cold War
See also ASIO
ASIO
See also Cold War; spies
I find that indexing makes my memory work harder than copyediting, which can be a challenge for my ADHD brain. I also find it difficult to structure large overlapping terms, such as in the example I’ve just given.
For new and experienced indexers, I highly recommend Stephen Ullstrom’s Book indexing: a step-by-step guide (https://www.stephenullstrom.com/publications/#mybook), which gives excellent practical advice on structuring an index.
Do you often edit and index the same text?
The bulk of my work comes through my editing clients. Two advantages of this are that I am familiar with the book when it comes time to index it and, because I am a good editor, I generally don’t encounter many issues with inconsistent spellings or capitalisation that would affect how those terms appear in the index. One added benefit of the indexing process is that I’m proofing while I’m indexing, so it gives me the opportunity to pick up errors I missed when I was copyediting. (There are always errors!)
What is your success rate in offering to index a text that you edit?
I believe that every academic book in the humanities needs an index. I always let my clients know that I can compile an index for them and what the extra budget for that will be. They can usually afford it if they have grant funding.
Do you charge the same way for editing and indexing (e.g. per hour, per word)?
I’ve worked out that, on average, for the kinds of clients I usually get, I edit around 800 words an hour, which then allows me to quote via word count at my hourly rate. This means that, generally, I am paid appropriately for my labour hours. I am raising my fees by 10% this financial year.
I don’t feel I’ve quite nailed indexing yet, so at the moment I am probably losing money because I’m taking more time to do it than that for which I’ve quoted. But I’ve become faster with practice. I charge over 10% above the ANZSI rate for new indexers.
I’m happy to share my rates sheet with other editors and indexers because I have a Marxist attitude to labour and time, by which I mean that secrecy around how much money one is or should be charging only makes it easier for workers in our industry to be financially exploited. If we don’t publicise among ourselves a basic benchmark fee relative to experience, then how are new freelancers going to be able to demand a livable wage?
Would you like to talk about being neurodivergent and how this helps or hinders you in the editing and indexing worlds?
Thank you so much for this question. I am AuDHD, which means I have a dual diagnosis of autism and ADHD. The biggest hindrance for me, as a neurodivergent indexer and editor, is economic marginalisation, which is essentially a political problem. I am a freelancer because normative hiring practices and working conditions have locked me out of the traditional labour market.
A 2021 study on employment profiles of Australian autistic adults (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34374491/) found that, relative to the general workforce population, neurodivergent people were “more likely to work part-time, work reduced hours and be employed at skill levels lower than their qualifications warranted” (p. 2061). Neurodivergent women editors and indexers in the underpaid publishing sector are doubly disadvantaged because we are employed in a poorly paid female-dominated sector relative to other professions and many of us have precarious incomes.
Nevertheless, I would say neurodivergence gives me a distinct advantage. My autism is excellent at systematising and detail, and my ADHD excels at coming up with creative solutions to structural problems. A capacity for logical systematisation, comprehension of relevance and identification of associations is crucial for indexing, as is an eye for detail. As with editing, correct and consistent spelling and style – and, most importantly, correct page number locations – matter to the quality of an index.
Thank you, Camille, so much for your insights into editing versus indexing.
If any editors wish to know more about editing and indexing, and ANZSI, please feel free to contact ANZSI’s liaison officer at susan@creativetext.com.au.