TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: professional indexers From:Lori Lathrop <76620 -dot- 456 -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 Dec 1994 14:34:06 EST
Sue -- Thanks for the plug :-) My spirits needed a lift today.
I just got a call from the publisher who hired me to create the index for
a business technology book on globalization. The good news is that the
editor loves the index. The bad news is that the compositor informed her
today that "the index is too big." The publisher wants to limit the
size of the book to some predetermined page count, so ... they'll
probably eliminate part of an Appendix, and they want me to reduce the
size of my index to about 50% of what it is now. Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!
I was so proud of the work I did on that index; it just kills my soul to
think of editing it to half its current size (which represents about 5%
of the text).
Of course, the real challenge will be to maintain quality while I reduce
the quantity of entries. That's a dilemma I never have when I create
indexes for corporate clients.
So ... the moral of the story is this: technical writers should consider
themselves lucky that their employers don't force them to compromise the
quality of their indexes.
Lori Lathrop ----------> INTERNET:76620 -dot- 456 -at- compuserve -dot- com
Lathrop Media Services (a.k.a. Index Reduction Services) :-(
P.O. Box 808, Georgetown, CO 80444
Phone: 303-567-4011
