Report from the Front Lines
A roundtable discussion about how the folks who commission back-of-the-book indexes–print production editors–work. Getting a glimpse into their environment might help indexers who have never been “in the trenches” to understand such concepts as:
Who's in Charge?
The title “editor” applies to a variety of job descriptions in a publishing house. This discussion highlights only those positions that affect a freelance indexer or editor. Of course, remember that reviewing the activities of all these positions are an editorial board, an army of accountants, the board of directors, and the shareholders. Decisions made down the line are ultimately influenced by how these other entities perceive the track records of all the other editors.
Usually, an executive editor or an acquisitions editor is the person responsible for finding an author and nailing down the contract; this person is also responsible for drawing up the initial budget for producing and marketing the book, and estimating its profitability for the house.
These initial negotiations set the stage for some of the parameters that affect freelancers, such as who will pay for the index (e.g., the author, through deductions to royalties or right up front; the publishing house; or a split between the two) and how much influence the author will be allowed to exert during production (e.g., how often and how much he or she will be allowed to fiddle with proofs and/or index). Depending on the book’s budget, the decision is made to produce it through the publisher’s in-house facilities (i.e., production group) or to farm it out to a “packager.”
A production editor, production manager, or director of production is responsible for buying all the services and materials necessary for publishing the book, and for keeping the production process within budget and on schedule. The production team consists of variations on the following:
Why are Schedules Important?
Schedules help to keep all the different teams on track. Not only must the production team make sure the paper arrives at the printer’s on schedule so that printing is finished to accommodate the binder’schedule, but that all the preceding steps have been synchronized just to get to that point. Outside production’s concerns are those of the marketing department, which has arranged author interviews and presentations, rented booth space at conferences to introduce the book, and bought advertising so the wholesale distrubutor can deliver the books and collect the revenue to pay for all of this. . . . and so the executive editor can pay her gastroenterologist and psychiatrist.
So if your computer freaks out or your printer dies, as an indexer you are not re-adjusting a schedule merely with the person on the telephone, but you might be affecting other schedules as well. (Of course, any experienced production or project editor builds in wobble time, but in publishing, wobble time is a hot commodity that evaporates rapidly.)
How is Freelance Work Assigned?
Editorial freelancers, including indexers, usually work with project editors. Project editors have lists of freelancers with whom they have previously worked, and give work preferentially to a freelancer who has produced good indexes on time at a rate within budget. Project editors inherit such lists from former production editors, and add to such lists when information comes across their desks in the form of brochures, inquiry letters (with resumes), referrals from others in the industry, and by word of mouth.
Often, project editors handle ten or more titles at a time, all in various stages of production. They work with various copy editors, proofreaders, and indexers simultaneously as well as authors; solve problems that arise with the art components of the manuscript; create and establish style guides for each title; and attend “launch” meetings with the rest of the production team, a marketing representative, the executive editor or the developmental editor, and sometimes the author.
The production editor’s desk is a place where Captain Kirk does not ever want to go: awash in 15-page launch memos, style sheets, marked copies of proof from authors that must be reviewed and have marks transposed to master sets of proof from proofreaders, Post-it notes, invoices, and a copy-edited manuscript from a new freelancer that must be reviewed. Somewhere in the mess is a floppy disk with an index (perhaps under the blueline proofs of the frontmatter of a book that is weeks behind schedule). And the log where all of these comings-and-goings of paper need to be recorded, lest the final pages for Y’s professional memoir get mixed up with those for the textbook of prostatic surgery.
You, as a freelancer new to the field, called this project editor two weeks ago, and have not heard anything since. You wonder, should I call again? Possible scenarios:
Battlefield Commissions, or How to Get Noticed in the Chaos
Because project editors juggle so many projects at a time, yet remain accountable for editorial quality control, they tend to choose the most experienced or most referred freelancers first. Taking on a new freelancer, no matter how extensive the resume or the referral, always poses a time committment to project editors, who must instruct the new worker on house style or specifications as well as the needs of the specific book, and then review the finished work either in-progress or upon submission. Time being the editor’s least renewable resource, consider what you would do in a similar situation. Unless you call at the moment the editor panics about a project, most likely your name will not stand out.
Prepare a professional resume and business cards; office discount store paper stock suffices. This provides a physical presence for you that the editor can file. Include the following:
Include a list of selected titles you have indexed (noting author(s), title, edition, and publishing company, and at least two to three pages of sample indexing, so the project editor can see an actual specimen of your work.
Even if you only have course exercise books under your belt, or books co-indexed with a mentor, consider including those titles, or index a published book that has no index. (One member of ASI has suggested indexing pro bono for nonprofit organizations that publish; this will not only get your index in print, but perhaps provide professional contacts in your community. For example, if you have an indexing specialty in medicine or law, contact volunteer hospital and legal associations.)
Do not include the following on your resume:
Enough said about that.
Before sending a resume and business card, and indeed, before calling, find out the following, either from a Web search or resources like the current year’s edition of the Literary Market Place (LMP):
Getting such details correct is important. If this information on your cover letter is wrong, you are announcing to a prospective employer that you do not spend time on details, which gets your paperwork immediately trashed.
Whether you send your papers first or call first, make a follow-up call one or two weeks after sending off your packet of information. Make a polite inquiry, short and concise, stressing that you have time available in your schedule. Be prepared to quote or estimate approximate fees, but give such information on a contingency basis, because you have not seen any job yet and you have no experience with this editor. If the discussion has gotten this far, you might also inquire about the publisher’s standard pay scale.
Continue to make similar follow-ups every six to eight weeks; send holiday cards too. Project editors get lots of inquiries about freelance work, and keeping your name in their memory banks is important. This is reinforced if they also see your name in freelance industry lists, like the “Indexer Locator” produced by ASI or in the Literary Market Place. But, above all, don’t make yourself a pest or whine—know when to back off. If an editor decides to hire a new freelancer, the next most “professional” candidate is considered first.
What is the production cycle like for specific publishers? Elementary/high school (elhi) publishers must have copies of their textbooks on teacher’s or district supervisor’s desks no later than March for fall adoptions; that puts busy times around the previous November running into December. When does COMDEX occur for computer books? Or MacWorld? When is the next convention of the Radiological Society of North America (the largest health-affliated convention)? Convention costs are high, and publishers need the books on hand to sell them. Hobby, art, and special interest books like biographies must hit the stores for Christmas at least by Thanksgiving. Figure no less than two months for printing and binding, and indexes slip in right before that, so calculate the best times to target specific project editors.
What about Contracts?
Many project editors rely only on verbal agreements regarding dates due for completed work, fees, and promised receipt of page proofs. More and more, however, send purchase orders with the proofs, and these orders or the PO number must accompany your invoice or you will not receive payment. Reasonable business practice recommends that the freelancer prepare a letter of agreement sent to the project editor as soon as possible following the assignment. You may request that the project editor or production manager sign or initial the agreement and return a copy to you, especially if this is the first time you have worked with this editor or publisher. At a minimum, this provides both parties an opportunity to review the facts of the agreement and to adjust it if necessary; at worst, you have a document that might give you a legal edge in nonpayment claims.
Some publishers have formal contracts created by their legal departments, most of which include copyright transferral or work-for-hire clauses. Some indexers provide their own contracts, but understand that the project editor probably does not have the authority to sign a formal contract without submitting it to corporate counsel for approval, which may delay the assignment and gives the project editor one more item to log and track. (As a business owner, a freelancer who has penned a contract should probably have it reviewed by a lawyer to guarantee its legality.)
How Do I Format the Index?
First, ask the project editor. Some publishing houses have strict format guidelines; many do not. The editor will send guidelines if necessary. If doubt exists, send the editor a sample.
Do I Communicate with the Author?
Ask the project editor. Some publishers actively promote such communication; others discourage it. Some authors do not understand the art of professional indexing and interfere with the process rather than assist it. Others can give freelancers a perspective on the subject of the book and clarify terminology. Never contact an author unless the project editor has approved or requested the contact, and never ever comment on the production job itself or publication dates; refer the author to the project editor or the publisher.
Sometimes an editor or author requests a sample of the index in progress to review content or format along the way. Always make certain they are aware that what you send them is incomplete and a draft copy only.
What Goes on the Invoice?
The invoice must contain your essential information, plus your Social Security number, any purchase order (PO) number, the date; the authors’ last names, the book title, and the edition. If you know it, include the ISBN number of the title. I include the fee formula (n pages @ $N; n lines @ $N); the return postage; and the total. An invoice cannot be processed without a Social Security or other tax number. Keep a copy for your records. Before you return or discard the proof, take a copy of the title page and copyright page if you have them, and keep this for future reference as well.
Did They Like It?
Always follow-up in some manner with a new client. Sometimes a project editor does not have time to do a thorough review or just sends a copy to the author for review. Sometimes (alas!) the index is commissioned by a production assistant who knows little about editorial or indexing standards and is wholly incapable of giving feedback. More often than not, you only get “We didn’t hear any complaints.”
Note: In the corporate arena, the executive editor’s income is configured by formulas that account for the profit the editor brings to the publisher. Odd as it seems, this formula often includes estimated future earnings of a title, not only earnings already brought into the house. So the editor might be paid this year for titles that will be published one or two years hence. An editor who consistently overestimates revenue would be wise to begin looking for a new job.
Note: A packager is a separate company that performs all the operations that publishers used to perform, from developing manuscripts, copy-editing them, setting the type, selecting and producing the art package, proofreading, indexing, and sometimes marketing. Packagers are often former employees of publishing houses who were dismissed or resigned; sometimes they are subsidiaries of composition (typesetting) firms; or they might be sole proprietorships freelancing everything from a home office. The publisher pays the packager; the packager pays the freelancer. Sometimes the freelancer has to wait until the publisher pays the packager before he or she is paid, cash flow being everybody’s nightmare. Like any other entity, some are good, some not so good.
(I’m sorry. Did you think it’s all about contributing to the cultural or scientific legacy of humankind?)
Do not presume that anyone in the publishing house has any reason to be more organized than Noah trying to feed and clean up after all the animals while dealing with seasickness. Remember, even though you specifically might be a whiz with computers, many authors, editors, and publishing executives are still making a transition from paper-based information to electronically transmitted information. Lots of people still working out there loathe computers, or think of them only as high tech typewriters.
Note: Do not rely solely on telephone or e-mail submissions.
Note: Know your publisher.
Note: Think timelines.
Note: Regarding the prospect of nonpayment, some indexers include a statement in a letter of agreement or on the invoice that payment is due in 30 days, and copyright for the index is released to the publisher only upon full payment. This sounds like a good idea to me.
Note: I try to send about two chapters from the middle of the book. I usually do not index the first chapter of most books first, because the first three chapters or so are often theoretical or introductory and do not represent the greater part of the text. For that reason, they are also the most difficult to index. However, I usually read them first for their introductory perspective.
So, maybe that and payment in 30 days is enough after all.