Ask the Indexers: working with a range of clients

Photograph of library shelves full of books with ceiling lights to illuminate them

Our panel of experts explain what types of clients they work for, and how they adapt their working practices to suit different types of clients.

Helen Taylor, Advanced Professional Member

I enjoy being able to choose my work, both which projects to take on and how many. It’s good to be able to organise my time so that I have a good work life balance – if I want to have a day off in the middle of the week and make up the time at the weekend I can. I was able to be more available for my children when they were younger, although that often meant being the taxi!

I have indexed really interesting books about subjects I wouldn’t have read about otherwise. The process of indexing makes me concentrate on the text in a different way than if I were just reading the book, so I get more out of it. It’s really rewarding to get positive feedback at the end of a project.

Joanna Penning, Advanced Professional Member

I have worked with all these clients. I do find that things tend to run more smoothly with publisher and packagers, though sometimes I take issue with pay rates or schedules. When working with authors directly it can be a bit more daunting; less so now that I have gained considerable experience. I take care to check out the requirements of the job more carefully with authors as they may be new to the process.

Samantha Clark, Advanced Professional Member

I mainly work for publishers. I feel that if they put me in contact with the author of the book as well, I have the best of both worlds as I can communicate with the author directly rather than going through a third person, but I also have some protection from the publisher if the author is unreasonable. I once indexed a book written by an author who didn’t seem to understand how books work, let alone indexes. He asked for unreasonable changes and was actually quite insulting, and in the end the publishers paid me extra just to do what he wanted. It was reassuring that everyone involved in publishing his book had been criticised and argued with and that it wasn’t anything personal. I do enjoy working with authors and have received some lovely comments; and it’s always lovely to receive more work from the same author. I don’t like working for a publisher or packager if they don’t let me contact the author as it feels very impersonal.

Christine Boylan, Advanced Professional Member

I occasionally work for authors usually when I have indexed a book for them previously and they do recommend me to colleagues. Small publishers are usually easy clients with a personal approach to commissioning. Generally I work mainly for larger publishers although this usually through packagers. They are often working to publisher’s guidelines with specific requirements that may not always be feasible. I often have to explain financial constraints, and they usually have little or no flexibility in budgets and deadlines. I have built up relationships with a few packagers who have stayed in the job a while and I can often reach compromises them on certain issues.

Kate McIntosh, Advanced Professional Member

I work exclusively now for publishers and authors. I won’t work for packagers; I get sufficient work from my SI profile and my contacts.

I have three of four publishers I work regularly for. I also get a lot of work indirectly from other publishing houses that I used to work with but who now ask authors to provide their own indexes; editors recommend me to their authors. Personally, in my field and having been indexing for such a long time, it is a lot of word-of-mouth, academic to academic.

Linda Haylock, Advanced Professional Member

I work for publishers in the main and also OUP packagers. I used to index for the occasional author, particularly those who are self-publishing, but have much less of that work now. I wonder whether it is because I don’t do embedded indexing?

The only adaptations I make to working practices for different types of clients is reconfiguring the indexing software to take into account different indexing styles.

Susan Vaughan, Advanced Professional Member

I work mostly for publishers – often learned societies and excavation units (archaeology) with whom I have very good relations. I have worked for some clients for decades!

I do sometimes work for authors and on occasion have found that more difficult. One in particular wanted me to include all her friends – even the one who was only in the acknowledgements.

Valeria Padalino, Advanced Professional Member

I work primarily for trade publishers and academic authors, with a particular focus on art books. Each brings a different rhythm and set of expectations, and it ensures that no two projects feel quite the same! Trade publishers usually provide clear briefs and tight production schedules, so the priority is accuracy, consistency, and delivering to deadline while fitting smoothly into their workflow.

Working with academic authors tends to be more collaborative. Most have reasonable requests and a good understanding of what an index can and cannot do, but occasionally there is some educating and negotiating involved. The challenge is to balance their detailed subject knowledge with the need to produce an index that serves the reader rather than simply mirroring the text.

Adapting to these differences requires flexibility and clear communication. Understanding each client’s priorities, establishing boundaries early on, and maintaining professionalism throughout helps ensure that the finished index meets both readers’ needs and author’s expectations.

Rob Gibson, Advanced Professional Member

The majority of my work is with publishers or with authors who are contracted to publishers, and for me there is no difference in working practices between the two. Working directly with an author means of course that the author will see the index in advance of the publisher’s deadline, which can be helpful.

This post is part of our Ask the Indexers series. The previous post asked what book do they wish they’d indexed and why

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