book production 

What should I look for in indexing services?

The most important element in indexing is the human element. Choose an experienced indexer who reads your book and makes index entries manually in the text based on the subject matter and the reference. Don't settle for an index in which keywords were fed into an indexing program and markers placed for every instance of the keyword. This is a nonthinking index and isn't particularly helpful to readers. 

When should indexing be done? 

• Indexes created prior to typesetting. Indexes created in Microsoft Word often are importable into page design programs such as PageMaker. 
• Indexes created in conjunction with typesetting. We also do a lot of indexing directly in PageMaker incorporating it into the proofreading and typesetting processes. In these cases, we layout and format the book, then as we proofread the book, we also enter index entries into the PageMaker files. PageMaker can then generate the index based on these entries.
• Indexes created after typesetting. Indexes also are created from hard copy. The indexer reads through the typeset pages and compiles the index based on the page numbers of those pages. The indexer then types up the entries and corresponding page numbers and usually provides a Word file that the designer then imports into the page design program. The disadvantage of this system is that there are no index markers placed in the actual text, so if a last-minute revision results in page changes, index entries could be wrong (and you will have to update those entries). This indexing procedure only works if there are no further text changes.

Price. Indexing rates are based on the average number of indexable items found on each page. Indexers either charge by the index entry or by the indexed page. The industry standard is $1.00 per index entry. Most nonfiction books fall in the $2.50 to $3.00 per page range. Indexes for highly technical books or textbooks, which require extensive indexes, are more expensive. 

Style. Make sure you and your indexer address style questions -- before the indexing job begins.

• Capitalization: Do you want the primary level of entry to be capitalized or lowercased? Lowercase is the more popular, because then a reader can clearly distinguish proper nouns in the index. 
• Numbering System: You have two choices when it comes to how to handle ranges of page numbers in the index.
  1. The Chicago Manual of Style method requires that page ranges be abbreviated when possible -- such as 153–54.
  2. The easy-to-read method makes the numbers inclusive -- such as 153–154.

Proofing. The indexer will edit the index. Often he or she will spot check entries as well. However, it is the publisher's responsibility to approve and check indexes (just as you would any work for hire) before they go into print. 

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