Become a book indexer

I have been an accredited freelance indexer for 10 years and to date have provided nearly 300 indexes for publishers and editors. If youre serious about indexing, youll want to start by learning the trade. Make it easy for an experienced indexer to say yes to some form of mentoring. Indexers are scarce and their skills are in demand. A book indexer blog and website of nicola king msocindadv. You might need to gain access to this folder for troubleshooting purposes. The society that represents and trains professional book indexers.

The table of contents gives the indexer a good overview of the book, as does the preface. Indexing is new york times bestselling author seanan mcguires new urban fantasy where everything you thought you knew about fairy tales gets turned on its head. Then take a look at our best practices and a history of. Nearly 300 published indexes for academic and general titles. For a full list of my published indexes visit the books indexed page. Join asi and become active in the regional chapter. Professional book indexer book indexing services since 1992, ferreira indexing inc. You should focus your education on english or writing for a book or copy editor indexing, or on computer sciences for data indexing. For this reason they might not hire the best indexer for your book, and you may not get the kind of index you want. The qualifications needed to become an indexer typically start with a college degree. Jul 14, 2017 maria sosnowski has been a freelance indexer for over ten years. While not needed in novels or short books, an index is required for most textbooks, technical manuals and other books that contain factual information.

This book was initially released in episodes as a kindle serial. Once a book is in final form and all laid out, the editorial changes have been made, all the graphics and illustrations are in place, and it is almost ready to go to the printer, the book is ready for an indexer to create the index that appears at the back of the book. The words listed can be technical terms, places, persons, or multiple words. A good indexer can index books they dont understand thoroughly. If you love books and reading, have a fairly analytical mind, would love to be a business owner, and are looking for a career change or a parttime career opportunity, indexing might be just the thing for you.

It serves as a key or map for finding specific topics in lengthier books. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book. Apr 15, 2019 indexing a book does require a certain amount of time, knowledge, and skill. It is very helpful for an indexer to have as much of the book as possible. The purpose of an indexers job is to compile indexes so people can find. Trend where telecommuters often take their own computing devices when they go into the office. Quality indexing of books, manuals, and online help.

Book indexes are created for publishers by freelancers who work at home. Fivestep process for writing a book index the writing. A book index is an alphabetized list of words and phrases showing the page numbers on which text on the subjects listed can be found. This fivestep process is what every indexer does, in one form or another, to write an index that your readers will return to to make full use of your book. I do believe that it is possible for anyone to learn. It is addressed to practitioners and scholars, to indexers and users of indexes, with articles on indexing in the digital age, usability, specialist indexing projects, professional development, software. Book indexing is not a getrichquick scheme, nor is it a way to passive income. Institutional members can send more than one person to the societys annual conference. You can do a training course with the society of indexers by distance learning.

Enclose an excellent sample index if you are truly interested in working. Become an elder, i had the vague idea that the book would need an index, maybe. This is a combination of online tutorials, assignments and assessments. Indexing courses and workshops american society for indexing. For many it is part of a portfolio career encompassing other paid employment or freelance activities such as editorial work, or provides a means of income which fits round other commitments. Thats the part of the book that helps a reader or researcher find the information in the text of the book.

There are an incredible number of books about indexing, but you might want to start with the books. However, even if you have a publisher, like a selfpublisher, you are the one who will ultimately pay for your index the cost is taken out before you receive any of your royalties, and so you may hire anyone you like to index. An index takes the form of specific arrangements entries. Jan 12, 2009 as a first time author, my book workingtitled, elders rock. What is a good online course to learn book indexing.

You may have noticed from the alphabetical ordering. Becoming an indexer takes moderate education, persistence and a strong desire to work independently. My job as an indexer is to intuitively read through the text to become intimately familiar with the contents and themes of the book, which requires a continuum of thought and mental activity. Indexervolumeguidwhat the heck is it microsoft community. Taking some type of course is essential, assuming you get to create indexes and have someone critique them. Indexing books as a career canvas network free online courses. Whether your goal is simply to be a published author in a certain niche or you want to publish a book to promote your overall freelance writing business, your book might need an index. If youre looking for something a little more niche, perhaps turn to torrents or irc. If you have already contracted an indexer please let them know about the delay and keep them updated as you get news from your publisher. Oct 18, 20 professional indexer and successful selfpublished novelist joanne phillips provides an easytofollow guide to compiling an index for a selfpublished nonfiction book. Professional book indexer joanne phillips shows its done. Become an indexer read about our distance learning. Jul 06, 2018 if youre considering engaging an indexer for your nonfiction book, heres an excellent article by book indexer clive pyne, who compiled a 12 step guide to book indexing, which shines a light on the art of indexing.

Have you ever considered writing a nonfiction book. Find an indexer in your subject area for your project. Learn to become a freelance indexer with a 3cassette video or 1day workshop. Providing an index gives your nonfiction book a professional edge, and compiling one is as easy as abc once youve mastered the basic rules. Which type of disc is a type of storage media that consists of a flat, round, portable metal disc made of metal, plastic. Even where the author is an indexer herself, she may choose to employ someone else to index her book, as pat booth did for indexing. Indexing services susan holbert and pierce butler want to start a homebased career in a unique branch of editorial freelancing. So you want to be an indexer american society for indexing. In a traditional backofthe book index, the headings will include names of people, places, events, and concepts selected by the indexer as being relevant and of interest to a possible reader of the book. Look in the book for the name of the indexer and contact him. The index is typically placed at the end of a book. The course is designed for those interested in becoming freelance indexers for. System where instructors set up webbased training sites for students to check their progress in a course and take practice tests. Indexer job description, career as a indexer, salary, employment.

The general functions of these jobs are similar, but your specific duties in each of these careers may vary. With thanks to william shakespeares king lear, i acknowledge that it takes a special mindset to become a book indexer. If your nonfiction book has been pushed back for any reason, please think about your indexer for a moment. If you have written the book yourself, its quite difficult to distance yourself from the text and think how to construct an index in a way that will be most helpful for the reader. Indexing is one of the most important parts of publishing a book. Be eligible to join our email and online chat forums, and benefit from the collective experience of our fellow members. We invite you to find an indexer for your project, read our publications, discover our conferences, events, and resources for indexers, find out about membership, and learn about the society. You study and learn, become proficient, and youre ready to go. The indexing books as a career mooc is intended for individuals interested in exploring a possible indexing career as well as for authors and editors who work with indexers. A good indexer sees connections in the text, and can guide readers to content in a straightforward and logical way. The indexer needs to know generally about the book and its intended audience. An index takes the form of specific arrangements entries intended to help readers find information within a book. Indexers generally are classified as technical information specialists, in the gs1412 job series.

This course is not meant to be a substitute for a comprehensive indexing course but does provide a detailed introduction to the process of indexing and working as an indexer. Preparing book indexes and other kinds of indexes is a viable career option. Society for technical communication publishes a book called inhouse. Most people here who are seeking digital content are looking for comparatively huge files in a timely manner due to dcma concerns. We specialize in creating accurate and reliable indexes that meet our clients specifications and are delivered on time. Apr 30, 2016 the system volume information folder is a hidden system folder that the system restore tool uses to store its information and restore points. There is a system volume information folder on every partition on your computer. There is the opportunity to become an accredited indexer, which adds to. Backofbook indexes are often produced by freelance indexers. While internalizing the content, i also focus on the perspective of the reader and index user to make clear what is being said in the book by identifying. This step may seem obvious, but i think it is worth repeating that while it is possible to.

Get into the book indexing service business from the entrepreneur list of business services business ideas. The indexer is given the pdf files of the book pages as single pages, not spreads. Consider on a sliding scale where the book falls between a onetime read and a reference book, and provide less or more detail accordingly. Mainstream books can simply be found in most indexers. An indexer creates an index, which is a methodical arrangement of records designed to enable users to locate information quickly. It is addressed to practitioners and scholars, to indexers and users of indexes, with articles on indexing in the digital age, usability, specialist indexing projects, professional development, software designed to help the indexer.

Indexers build up lists of searchable terms for things like books, magazines, reports, websites and photographic collections. Book indexing service business ideas start your business. He needs to know if the book is going to be marketed to a different audience than its readership i. If hes not listed as is usually the casewhy is that. So you want to be an indexer frequently asked questions. There are typically no specific degree requirements for indexers, although since most of the work is typically freelance, you will want a college degree to be competitive with other applicants for the job. A good index will ultimately make your book more useful, easier to navigate, and will ensure that your readers refer back to your book time and time again.

Indexing books as a career free mooc sylvia coates. Maybe one thats in your field and really has all the bases covered. I am a professional book indexer the yawning chasm. The indexer is the international journal of indexing, published by the society of indexers on behalf of indexing societies around the world. Gain familiarity with the process of term selection and writing an index. Indexing vacancies at the national library of medicine are filled competitively.

The indexer may be the author, the editor, or a professional indexer working as a third party. Freelance indexer welcome to indexingenious, a book indexing service owned by gary kirby. Become familiar with index structure, format, and specification options. A good book index is a map of a book, as sam leith says, a. In this article, she explains that hiring an indexer to create a professional index is something that many authors neglect. A career in indexing indexing offers the flexibility of working from home. Because authors and publishers rarely create the indexes themselves, this job must be completed by a. I read a book about indexing years and years ago, and the author said an. There are many types of indexers, but the primary types include book indexer, data indexer, and medical indexer.

An index is an alphabetized list of subjects and terms used and discussed in the book with their corresponding page numbers and is great to use in nonfiction books. Meet other indexers at regional gettogethers and our annual conference. However, it produces a reasonable return for the time required. Develop a plan for learning the art of indexing, and get feedback on initial work. Sep 09, 2019 interview on nonfiction book indexing with virginia c. Making an index in word for very complex projects, it is best to hire a professional indexer, but if youre selfpublishing your book on a budget, you can definitely do it yourself. How to make money from home by indexing books toughnickel.