2x award-winning book indexer and the author of Book Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide. I teach you how to write excellent indexes, along with reflections on succeeding as a freelance indexer.
Hello, A month ago I wrote about my ideal working relationship with publishers, as a valued member of the team. But not every publisher or client is going to be ideal, and sometimes you need to know when to walk away. Walking away from a project or client is scary. Especially early in my career, I was loath to pass up an opportunity. I needed the paycheck and would say yes to books that I either had no interest in subject-wise, or were beyond my skill level in either subject matter expertise or indexing know-how. Which isn’t always bad. Sometimes being pushed out of my comfort zone shows me where I need to improve or shows me that I am capable of more than I realize. Though sometimes it means that I need to set better boundaries. Sometimes you need to walk away from a project because of the client, not the actual work. Or at least be willing to walk away. I faced this situation with two different clients last year, both academic authors. The experiences caused me to reflect on what it is I need from clients in order to make this working relationship worthwhile. Are all of the terms dictated by the client, or do I have some agency too? Though to be fair to both authors, I found them both (or in the one case, the author’s assistant) pleasant and easy to work with. The problem actually lay with their respective universities. Often when I am hired by an academic author, payment for the index comes from their university, in the form of funding that the author can tap into. This usually means that I need to register with the university as a vendor, which almost always means paperwork. In these two cases, both universities had requirements that I was unable to fulfill. In one case, the university wanted a tax number that I did not have (as a Canadian citizen and resident, with the university in another country, it was a foreign tax number I ordinarily do not need). In the other case, for a university in yet another country, their requirements seemed more suited to a larger company than my one-person freelance outfit. After initial inquiries, neither university seemed to want to budge. What do I do? Do I invest time and money trying to meet their requirements, which could potentially take months trying to acquire that which I do not have? Or do I walk away? I don’t really want to walk away, because the issue isn’t with the book or with the author. But if being paid is going to be a drain on my time and resources, the project is no longer so appealing. How much red tape is $1000, or even $2000, worth? In both cases I decided to be honest with the authors. It also helped that they had started the vendor registration process early, before the proofs were ready for indexing, so there was still time to find another indexer if necessary. I explained why I was unable to meet all of the vendor registration requirements. I asked if the university would be willing to waive the problematic requirements. I politely stated that if the requirements were not waived, then I would regretfully need to withdraw from the project and they would need to find another indexer who would be a better fit. I felt anxious threatening to pull out of a project I had previously agreed to do. I didn’t know how the author or the university would react. I also felt okay at the prospect of losing the client and project. There was still time for another project to come along to fill that time slot in my schedule and it felt good to protect and value my own time and business. Thankfully, both universities decided, after all, that they could waive the troublesome requirements. I don’t fully know what happened on their end, but the authors decided to advocate to keep me as their indexer and the university administrators found a way to make it happen. A happy outcome for everyone, at least from my perspective. These experiences taught me a few lessons:
Have you ever walked away from a project? What was that experience like? What did you do to make the situation better? Please feel free to reply and let me know. Yours in freelancing, Stephen |
Professional Book Indexer
2x award-winning book indexer and the author of Book Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide. I teach you how to write excellent indexes, along with reflections on succeeding as a freelance indexer.
Hello, From my perspective as a relatively younger indexer, it feels like indexing is in the midst of a generational turnover, both in terms of long-time indexers nearing retirement and in regards to software. A lot of programs developed in the 1980s and 1990s are still vital to our work, but what happens when their developers either retire or die? The indexing community has been struggling with this question over the last few years. Dave Ream died unexpectedly in 2017, leaving his programs...
Hello, One of the challenges of being a freelance indexer is knowing where to draw the line on projects that are a good fit. Do you stick to subjects that you are comfortable with and for which you have prior professional or academic expertise? Or does indexing know-how mean that you can index anything? I think it is a bit of both. I consider myself a generalist, with some caveats. I am comfortable with most trade books, written for a general audience, since I consider myself part of that...
Hello, A few months ago I wrote about financial practices for freelancers that I find helpful in my own business. I’ve been wanting to write about money again, specifically about setting rates. Rates are a constant and ongoing issue, of how to set rates, and when to raise rates, and whether or not rates are appropriate. But the truth is, I don’t think I have any good advice. I do set prices for my indexing work and I have raised rates, but it so often feels like trial and error that I don’t...