Looking at Connections: editors and indexers
May's meeting report by Kim Manning
The meeting held on 4 May was an opportunity to look at the connections between editors and indexers in Queensland and, by exploring the links and practices, work out how we could best support each other professionally. The MC for the evening was Margaret McDonell, with on-call 'on-mic' support from Michael Kuter. Both are well-known editors and indexers (and your SocEdsQ speaker secretary offers many thanks to them and also to Robin Bennett for their input and effort for this meeting, not only on the night but also prior to it).
The point was made early on that when information density is high there is an absolute need for an index — it is simply the easiest way for a reader to find sought-after information. There is currently a Federal Government requirement that all of its '50 pages plus' publications must have an index. Can other publishers (state governments, corporations, publishing houses, etc.) be made to think the same way? And can editors help with this necessary change in thinking?
Both professions are often part of an invisible workforce, but editors have seemingly always been better placed to promote their skills and push for professional recognition and appreciation.
For any headway to be made here, more of the people who allocate publication budget monies need to start factoring the cost of an index into the plan at the outset. As a sign of professional awareness, an editor retained for a sizeable publishing project should enquire if an indexer has also been retained (if the project warrants it) and push for a change if the answer is no.
Successful publishing houses understand the importance of a second set of eyes — looking at the text with a fresh perspective — to the usefulness, accuracy and quality of a book.
When checking an index, an editor needs to have a general eye for detail to check that the page references are correct, that headings and subheadings are logical, and also that the reader has been kept in mind (is this how they would want to access the information?).
If an editor points out to an indexer any issues that they should be aware of as they create the index, the indexer, in turn, can and should point out to the editor any problems that make the preparation of an index difficult, such as inconsistent references to the same person, so that the editor can fix these problems. This mutual support strategy is the natural flow-on from editors pushing for an index in all non-fiction publications over 50 pages, and from indexers promoting themselves and their skills more widely to the publishing community.
As 'infomediaries' in the communication industry, we understand the importance of each other's skills; we just need to promote ourselves more.
If a punchy three- or four-word slogan could be made out of 'a publication is only as good as its usefulness; it needs to be properly edited and indexed, not just beautifully formatted', we could find that we're onto something big.
It was a casual and friendly gathering at the café on meeting night; members of the Queensland branch of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers are most welcome to attend any Society of Editors meetings in Brisbane as a means of networking and improving our professional links in this state. The coming years are full of opportunity for editors and indexers in Queensland.