Queen of the Bondo

Zafran, Enid L., and Joan Shapiro (eds.) Starting an Indexing Business, 4th Edition. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2009.

I’m working my way through a stack of professional development books, most of which have to do with the nontraditional routes you can take with an MLIS.

Starting an Indexing Business is a slim volume (82 pages, including the index) that covers the basics: whether indexing is right for you, the business of being in business, how to find work, what to charge, and what kind of professional development options are available to you.

If I decided to pursue indexing, this is the course I might take, based on the book’s recommendations:

• Find an indexing course,
• Join the American Society for Indexing,
• Pin down what my indexing specialties might be (for example, mine might include American history, ancient and medieval history, local history, cookbooks, self-published local interest books, winemaking, humor, biography, and trade publications in library science and archives, since those are the subjects for which I am also most qualified to offer writing and editing services.)
• Find book packagers and special interest groups that match those specialties, and market, market, market my services

Starting an Indexing Business also works as a succinct general guide to starting up as a freelancer, covering the basics of taxes and purchasing liability and disability insurance. (Protect those delicate little fingers!) Based on my experience, freelance indexing is a much lower-risk prospect than freelance archival work, so liability insurance is not as big of an issue. (The bottom line: keep your opinions to yourself and don’t accidentally libel someone in the index.) The most challenging part for me — and for several of the book’s contributors — is marketing. Marketing, though essential, is not the introvert’s favorite activity — even when you’re confident that you’ve got a good product.

My most pressing question — will indexers eventually become irrelevant in the age of e-books and ctrl+F? — didn’t get addressed until the end, and even then, the answer was vague and not terribly reassuring: “In any case, indexers should be aware that the world of publishing is changing.” Although I’m well-suited to indexing (I am an analytical and thematic thinker, I like working solo, I have an uncommon eye for detail, I have experience working with the end user), I am hesitant about acquiring (another) skill that may become obsolete soon. I’ll have to do some more investigating!