If I had to chart the times writers have asked about the differences between these two words, it’d be, well, off the chart.

“Indices” is the plural of index, which makes it a noun. For example: “The politician presented several economic indices to prove we’re still in a recession.”

“Indexes” is the present tense of the verb “index.” To wit, “Jane indexes her DVDs alphabetically.”

This all may be changing, though. The Wall Street Journal’s stylebook says using “indexes” as a plural of “index” is acceptable, and many spell checks will tell you that “indices” is wrong.

Over time, we’ll probably see usage of “indices” fall to an all-time low.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

About 75 percent of all books these days are sold as ebooks – meaning they’re read on Kindles, Nooks, and other electronic readers rather than in paper form. As most writers are lovers of paper books, they often need reminding that they should self-publish their volume in ebook as well as paper form. Likewise, almost no one should limit their book purely to ebook sales.

Developing the paper version of the book first then converting it to ebook form is traditional. This approach need not be followed, though. There is a lot of logic to going with the ebook first, as the paper version requires much more intensive formatting – such as adding page numbers, assigning typeface styles, and aligning margins (Indeed, because of this, most of this book focuses on self-publishing paper versions of your title, though much of what you do for a paper book, such as writing a cover blurb and designing a cover, are essential for an ebook.).

When creating your ebook, follow these basic guidelines:
• Strip it of styles – Other than using all caps and italics, typesetting styles used for chapter titles, section headers, drop caps and more can’t appear in most current ebooks. All wording should appear in one typeface and a couple of point sizes.
• Get rid of extra spacing – Your paperback version may place several lines of white space between chapter titles and the chapter’s first sentence, but that needs to disappear in your ebook. Single space the entire ebook.
• Dump tabs on paragraphs – Unlike a paper book, the first line of a paragraph isn’t indented. Like a business letter, all paragraph’s left margins are even or aligned. To indicate a new paragraph, an empty line is placed between paragraphs. This is done by hitting the ENTER key twice at the end of a paragraph.
• Delete page numbers – Page numbers are meaningless in ebooks as the reader can change the type size. That doesn’t mean you should dispense with the table of contents, though. Instead, each chapter or section title in the table of contents should be linked to where that chapter or section begins in the text. Indexes generally can be deleted, though.

When uploading an ebook to a specific self-publishing house, be sure to first read through their guidelines. Some have very specific rules and recommendations that will make your upload go much easier.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip:

Practice being present. Anytime you’re waiting, write down what you see, hear, smell, taste and sense through touch. Can you organize these details you’ve observed into a coherent paragraph that describes this setting?

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Hurdle vs. hurtle are two similar sounding words that often get confused.

“Hurdle” can have a couple of meanings. As a verb, it means to “leap” or “overcome.” So, “Liam hurdled over the mud puddle as he ran down the road.” As a noun, it means an “obstacle” or “barrier.” To wit, “Liam found the mud puddles were no great hurdles to his getaway.”

“Hurtle” means to “throw with great force” or “move with great speed.” For example, “Emily hurtled a rock at the approaching bear” and “Emily hurtled through the woods as the bear chased her.”

______________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

“My task…is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see. That – and no more – and it is everything.” – Joseph Conrad

“The adjective is the enemy of the noun.” – Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

“Pay attention to the sound of words.” – Dave Wolverton

“An essential element for good writing is a good ear: One must listen to the sound of one’s own prose.” – Barbara Tuchman

“As for the adjective, when in doubt leave it out.” – Mark Twain

______________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip: Foreshadowing is another tried-and-true way of opening a story and can be very useful if you’ve already brainstormed or outlined the story’s premise and characters. For example, if the book is about how far one has to go to defend themselves and others they love, you might write, “I’d never really thought about how I would kill someone though I’d certainly given plenty of thought to who I might knock off.”

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

What’s the difference between an enjoyable afternoon of wine tasting and a night of artful seduction over wine? One is “sensuous” and the other is “sensual.”

“Sensuous” means to appeal to the senses or to have strong sensory appeal, as in The Klingon found the Grapok sauce sensuous.

“Sensual” pertains to fleshly or sexual appeal, as in The Klingon warrior found B’etor’s ample bosom quite sensual.

______________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks: