Top Hat Word & Index will exhibit at the 2011 Northwest Bookfest October 1-2
Top Hat Word & Index will be exhibiting at the 2011 Northwest Bookfest in Kirkland, Washington the weekend of October 1-2. This is not a typical marketing strategy for such a business....read to find out what is behind this unconventional effort.

BELLEVUE, WA, September 17, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- One of the Seattle area's leading small technical writing companies, Top Hat Word & Index, will be exhibiting at the upcoming Northwest Bookfest in Kirkland, Washington the weekend of October 1-2. The event will take place in Peter Kirk Park from 10AM-6PM, 2 miles west of exit 18 off Interstate-405 in downtown Kirkland. The exhibit will feature the back-of-book indexing process on display through "live indexing," and visitors will have an opportunity to chat with the indexer and owner, Paul Sweum.

Exhibiting at a book festival is not typically part of a marketing strategy for a small technical writing business promoting back-of-book indexing services. Most people in the general public are not aware that such an industry even exists. It's a market consisting of mainly freelancers—where nearly all business takes place online—with little in the way of face-to-face interaction. Sweum believes exhibiting in an environment of publishers and writers will expose his services to potential clients, and the effort will turn stones that might otherwise be glossed over.

"I guess I'm willing to go outside the box and try different ways to connect," Sweum says. "I'm aiming to build business relationships, and believe something extra is achieved through direct interaction. You make yourself more memorable, and at the end of the day folks prefer to do business with someone they know. My father taught me this." Sweum is a native of the Seattle area, and spent his teen years as a witness to his parents running a successful small business as manufacturer's representatives. "I watched my father drive and fly great distances to meet clients face-to-face, when he could have simply conducted business over the phone. Building relationships was the cornerstone of his success."

Sweum stays involved in the indexing industry as the editor for the e-newsletter for his local chapter of the American Society for Indexing (ASI), and maintains involvement in several other ways, including developing trends and technologies in indexing as part of ASI's digital trends taskforce—a group of experts building awareness and a means of providing good indexes in the evolving world of e-books. In 2012, Sweum will serve as an international correspondent for The Indexer, the bulletin for the UK's equivalent of ASI, the Society of Indexers.

Top Hat Word & Index was founded in 2006. The combination of Sweum's town planning, education, writing experience, technology background, travel experience, and range of personal interests provides him with a broad palette from which to work. He writes about his industry observations and business experiences on his company blog, The Penny Farthing Commuter. He is on Twitter as "TopHatIndexer," and will be tweeting at Northwest Bookfest. In addition to indexing books and technical documents, Sweum also provides freelance editing and technical writing services. All inquiries are welcome.

Press Release Contact Information:

Paul Sweum
Top Hat Word & Index
Owner
14150 NE 20th Street, Suite F1 - Box 53
Bellevue, WA
USA 98007
Voice: 520-271-2112
Website: Visit Our Website