by Eline van der Veken
Whether you are an author, editor or publisher, I can provide your readers with the key to your work in the form of a professional, user-friendly back-of-the-book index.
I provide back-of-the-book indexes
Why hire a professional indexer?
Gain a reader’s perspective
I'll read your book cover to cover (I don't skip the footnotes either!) to get a good understanding of your readers’ needs and expectations from the index. As a bonus, I will make sure to forward any typos or inconsistencies found during my read-through in time for the next round of proofs.
Leave the technical details to the nerds
Don’t concern yourself with figuring out indexing standards and publisher stylesheets, but leave it to me! I love finding the optimal, user-friendly structure of entries and subentries, getting the formats of locators for pages, tables and figures just right, and fiddling with the font and alphabetization until everything looks perfect.
Peace of mind
Delegating this final job gives you the freedom to focus on finishing the manuscript (or take a well-deserved holiday) while your book is being prepped for publication!
The indexing process
“One of my colleagues, when asked the question, “What is it that really goes on in indexing?” answered: “Magic!” While magic may or may not play a role, the intense synergy between creativity and editing that grips the indexer is an integral part of the indexing process. It is this aspect of indexing that is difficult to describe and impossible to teach.”
Nancy C. Mulvany, Indexing Books (1994)