Page Proofs--Part 2

Your first project was delivered by FedEx (or some other courier). So far, so good!

Now, bind these page proofs and just start indexing, right?

Nope. First, hold off on binding them just for a moment.

Last month, we discussed creating a friendly letter that outlines some of the agreed upon terms as you understood them over the phone. Remember, this letter doesn't have to read like legalese. It CAN be conversational. Something like: "I will be able to make the deadline of February 15, 2000 without any problems." And so on.

Now that you have received the page proofs, you can also confirm this to them. "Hi! Just wanted to let you know I received the page proofs to The Sociology of Pigs."

In addition, you want to review the page proofs and let the editor know of anything you have found amiss. Many indexers call this process "vetting", which is a very correct term. I personally don't care for it. It sounds too much like we borrowed a veterinary term and adapted it for our use, as indexers. (But at least now you know what indexers mean by "vetting"!)

I prefer the terms "proof review" or "proof checklist", or some such. It doesn't sound so animal-like.

Regardless of what you call it, you want to review the proofs for initial problems. What should you look for?

(1) Make sure you have received the correct, intended project.

(2) Check to make sure that everything that should be in the package is there. Did you ask for a sample index and did the editor agree? Great! Is it there? Did they say they would send a return FedEx shipping label? Great! Is it there? Check your notes for everything that should be there.

(3) Count the pages, and make sure they are in numerical sequence. Once, I was missing several pages throughout the text. Because I included this omission in my letter to the editor, they were faxed to me the very next day. This lead to no delays in indexing.

(4) Skim the first and last lines on a page to make sure the text matches and is continued properly. I have also had pages properly numbered, but it wasn't the end of the chapter. The last page of the chapter was omitted. Because of the page numbering scheme, this was the only way to identify that pages were missing at the ends of chapters.

(5) If everything about the pages is fine, NOW bind them. You don't want to bind them if pages are missing (unless you have a way of inserting the pages later on).

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