Hello,

When talking with newer indexers and people considering a career in indexing, I often get the question, “But when am I ready to begin freelancing?”

Which is a very good question. Especially working alone, as freelancers tend to do, it can be tough to gauge our own skills.

I often feel like responding, “You’re probably ready right now. Go for it.”

And maybe they are ready, and maybe they are not. I’d need to learn more about their experience and see some of their work to have a better sense. But I’m also convinced that most people are more ready than they realize, and that the best way to learn and improve is by doing.

Let me elaborate:

• If you have completed an indexing course, you now know far more about indexing than the average author or editor. Granted, hands-on experience is also needed to put those lessons into practice. But all of that knowledge puts you into an excellent starting position.
• You have put in some practice. This can either be writing practice indexes, whether for books on your shelf or volunteering to write an index for someone else. Practice can also be critiquing existing indexes, both well-written indexes and poor. While I didn’t plan to learn about indexing, this is how I got started. Working at UBC Press during a four month Arts Co-op placement, I was handed a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style’s indexing chapter and the press’s guidelines and told to proofread indexes that had been submitted for publication. You can do the same. See how well indexes compare to best practices. What works, and why? What doesn’t work, and why? What would you do differently?
• Commit to continuing to learn. I see skill-building as an iterative process. Write a few indexes, attend a conference, (re)read books or articles, talk to other indexers, reflect on the indexes you have written, try a new approach, write a few more indexes. The first award I won, the Purple Pen Award, in 2014, was a direct result of Margie Towery’s presentation at the ISC/SCI conference in Toronto, on Towery’s ten characteristics of quality indexes (which is now an excellent book). What Towery taught was exactly what I needed to hear at that time, and yet it only made sense because I had enough experience to understand what she was talking about and to recognize, at least in part, where my indexes fell short. So don’t be afraid to index, even if the indexes are not perfect. The act of doing, combined with reflection and learning, will help you improve.
• Accept that mistakes happen. If the client comes back requesting changes, then take the opportunity to correct. Otherwise, move on, learn, and try to do better next time. I don’t think it is possible to write a perfect index.
• Understand that indexers can be their own harshest critics. I mean this in the sense that I can be my harshest critic and in the sense that when indexers critique each other’s work, we can see issues that authors and editors often don’t see because we know what to look for. What matters is that the client is happy. Take advantage of that knowledge gap to deliver indexes that are still competently written, better than what the client could have done, while also continuing to learn and improve. (Of course, some clients can be very picky and hands-on, and sometimes they raise valid issues and other times not, but that’s a different issue.)

Getting started as an indexer is difficult. Especially finding and landing that first job, and especially feeling like you are qualified to even begin looking for work.

I want to encourage you that yes, you can begin looking for indexing work. If you’ve made the effort to gain some training and to practice, you are already ahead of most authors and editors—the people who are most likely to hire you. Being new, there is probably a lot more that you can learn about writing an excellent index. But you can still begin your freelancing career and continue to learn at the same time. You don’t have to wait until you are a seasoned pro. You can start right now and build up.

To your freelancing success,

Stephen