Saturday, June 25, 2005
(5:50 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Indexing
From the Stanford University Press standards for indexing:We usually figure about one printed page of index per 30-40 pages of typeset text. One can count about 100 entries to the printed index page.... Any index much shorter than this--say a 450-entry index for a 275-page book--is likely to be skimpy. Any index much longer than this--say a 1000-entry index for a 275-page book--is likely to be excessive. The disadvantage of a skimpy index is obvious. An excessively long index is usually one whose usefulness is impaired by inadequate consolidation of draft entries into larger units or by the inclusion of trivia unlikely to be looked up.The only possible way I can craft an "adequate" index for the book I'm working on is precisely "by inadequate consolidation of draft entries into larger units or by the inclusion of trivia unlikely to be looked up."
This entire document is a marvel of self-contradiction, counterintuitivity, and frustration. For instance, one is only to use subentries if there are five page references that could fall under the main entry. As if God himself were mocking me, literally every time I try a subentry, it comes out to only four page references for that topic.
I'll be done soon enough, in any case. The benefits to having done this include getting paid and getting my name in a book published by a prestigious press.
