The file arrives, and i have the 557 pages printed. Qb quote book another pocketsized notebook with quotes from stuff im reading. A professional index is essential for any work of nonfiction. Hopefully they use indexes of books on the same fields as the books that they index. Here are some rules to follow when creating your own index entries. Whether you are using a hard copy or reading an ebook or pdf, you need to mark up the text as you look for key terms and possible section headings. Praise for handbook of indexing techniques, 5th edition i welcome this fifth edition. Index design, electronic markup, or other special formatting indexers, if you have other criteria for pricing an index, please let me hear from you. A book on filing rules from 1918 gives an example showing mc and m treated as abbreviations, i. The general rule of thumb, according to martz, is to distinguish between. This obviously excludes blank pages, page dividers and the table of contents. In this video you will learn how to create an index for your book using microsoft word.
There are indexers who specialize in writing back of the book indexes for cookbooks. As a member, you will have access to information about indexing, including online publications, information about conferences, and a network of indexers and aspiring indexers. For a trade book 5% of the text pages for an index based on a two column setup for the index. Fivestep process for writing a book index by stephen. While a few publishers have inhouse indexers, most indexing is done by freelancers, often working from home, hired by authors, publishers or book packagers. An index is essentially a roadmap to the book, listing names, places, and things in alphabetical order and giving the page numbers associated with each topic. It can be a good idea to utilize indexing software to simplify the process, especially if youre new to indexing. An author preparing his or her own index will have to proofread as well as index the work. You agree on price and timeframe, the publisher sends an electronic file, and you now do the work of creating the index on your own premises, using your own computer and software. Lowercase the first letter of every entry unless a proper noun. To pay tribute to all the hardworking, barely sleeping indexers eager to build bridges between the reader and the book, that can save the reader many hours of work, lets explain what we, indexers, do as information professionals, how.
The sublime joy of making a book index without bullshit. You may have noticed from the alphabetical ordering of entries and by how neatly. An index should also capture any comparisons of one concept with another in your book. Ill actually do the index markup on the pdf, but the paper version also provides relief from eye strain when researching for notes ive made. Indexers can keep in mind that any given book has a spectrum of users. Typical, statutory requirements for an index are 1 names of the parties to the document. The agreedupon page extent for the book will impose some kind of limit although not definitive on the length of the index you can have for your title. Like its predecessor, this edition of indexing books offers comprehensive, reliable treatment of indexing principles and practices relevant to authors and indexers alike. Indexes are not simply alphabetical lists of words or terms that appear in a given text. Frequently asked questions american society for indexing. In order to decide whether to index under a prefix or a following element, one has to know which element. It can include tables and figures if those have text. Readers expect to find a useful, wellpresented index at the back of a book, and can get very frustrated if the index doesnt quickly lead them to the information they seek. An index should be considerably more than an outline or an.
Due to your subject knowledge as the books author, we encourage you to compile your own index, as you are likely to have the strongest sense of the material. The great indexers strategy starts with internalizing the concept of the manuscript first in following steps. Book indexing how to make a book index in microsoft word. There are several abstracting and indexing services available today. Since 1994, nancy mulvanys indexing books has been the gold standard for thousands of professional indexers, editors, and authors. Thats why the indexer has a mandate to make each cookbook useful. An index should amount to between 35% of the length of the completed text. A reader asked me to do a video on how to make a book index in word. Without proper indexing by discovery services, researchers will be hardpressed to find even the most groundbreaking scholarly articles. If you are reading this book because you have to write an index right away, skip this chapter and go to chapter 2. For further information on indexing, and other aspects of manuscript preparation, take a look at our book authors resources here about the author author marketing, wiley helen is a marketing coordinator working within the author marketing team for wileys global research division. The amount of crossreferencing needed for your book is a significant consideration for the indexer when determining the cost of doing an index for a book. Assignment indexing also known as concept indexing involves the conceptual analysis of the contents of a document for selecting concepts expressed in it, assigning terms for those concepts from some form of controlled vocabulary according to given rules and procedures for displaying syntactic and semantic relationships e. When two names in unit 1 begin with the same letter, you consider the next or.
A professional index can increase a book s chances of being taken on by a mainstream publisher. As a rule of thumb the index of an academic book might occupy 1015% of the page count. You agree on price and timeframe, the publisher sends an electronic file, and you now do the work of creating the index on your. National information standards organization describes book indexing as a systematic guide designed to indicate topics or features of documents. Indexing guidelines for authors and editors bloomsbury publishing. When indexing the name of an individual, arrange the units in this order. And two, i want to go over different ways that professional book index services price themselves. Nov 10, 2016 for further information on indexing, and other aspects of manuscript preparation, take a look at our book authors resources here about the author author marketing, wiley helen is a marketing coordinator working within the author marketing team for wileys global research division. For this, youll need to master book indexing software and industry standards or find a freelancer to index your book. Blog 10 tips youd know before creating a book index. How to make a really good book index in word tck publishing. Written by a professional indexer, this thorough howto guide covers such topics as the book production process, assigning headings and subentries, laying out and editing an index, rules for proper names and alphabetizing, cross references, indexing standards, and methods and tools for indexing, including a list of available indexing software. A well organized index is very much crucial without which makes even a good content books go unnoticed by the readers. This gives me a quick look at the book so i can start making notes on paper to get a feel for content.
Advice is plentiful via the many names indexing resources and throughout this book. How to create an index for your book in microsoft word youtube. However, if you stick to the 35% rule you should end up with a decent length for the index. How to create an index for your book in microsoft word. An index is a list of words or phrases headings and associated pointers locators to where useful material relating to that heading can be found in a document or collection of documents.
Alphabetize letter by letter, including subentries see chicago manual of style, 16th ed. Information issues in cook book indexing a paper for my. For nonfiction books, packed with valuable information, a wellmade index can help quickly direct the reader to the information theyre trying to find. Fivestep process for writing a book index by stephen ullstrom. For a normal backofthe book index, i would work from a pdf of the page proofs on the left of my screen, and sky index software on the right. This will help you the get the idea of book content, style, and thought. This may seem like a very vague rule, but all human index writers are also index users.
There are many good indexing software programs available on basic word processors. Nevertheless, book indexing is a pretty complicated process that cant be easily described in a few words. Focus on the perspective of the reader while internalizing the content. The value of publication may increase many options by a good inclusion of an index. Jun 21, 2017 academic journal articles are only as impactful as they are discoverable, and online discovery hinges almost entirely on one thing indexing. Indexing services susan holbert and pierce butler want to start a homebased career in a unique branch of editorial freelancing. Fiction authors are lucky that they only have to create a table of contents, but nonfiction authors also have to create a robust index to help readers navigate their book. Time for a quick test of your knowledge of backofthe book indexing. Check other similar indexes concentrate on your book main subject the index size number of. The purpose of the index is to help readers find their way round your book.
The style rules given in this guide match intellect house style. Indexers are scarce and their skills are in demand. Application by computer with cdrom 4th edition by joseph s. Nonfictional books without an index may causes frustration to the readers. In order to be useful, index entries should be formatted to be as userfriendly and intuitive as possible. An indexable page refers to any page with text on it that can be indexed. A good guideline for indexing the average book is that the index should be. An index should be neither an indiscriminate list of everything mentioned in the book nor an overly complex work of scholarship.
Some databases index titles, some index full articles while some others index only the abstract andor references. In order to decide whether to index under a prefix or a following element, one has to know which element is a prefix. Another different aspect is that this job is in indesign. For nonfiction books, packed with valuable information, a wellmade index can help.
Most book indexes have to be made between the time page proof is issued and the time it is returned to the typesetter usually about four weeks. Catharyn martz is a skilled indexer and says that when creating an index, shes. Cb chrono book more conventionally known as a journal, but journal book sounds really dumb. Sep 26, 2012 the indexing of recipes is a topic that is not often examined, but that has relevance in the book publishing world. Chapter 16 contents the chicago manual of style online. Writing means thinking of an idea and creating content for it. An index is a vital component of your book for some readers, especially in a library setting, it will be the first point of entry, and many others will rely on it as they read or consult your book. The first step may seem obvious, but its important to do a thorough readthrough of. There are rules that one should try to follow, but they are only guidelines.
This selection of books and articles about indexing will be of interest to indexers and those thinking of becoming indexers. In books, indexes are usually placed near the end this is commonly known as bob or backof book indexing. This article talks about the indexes the author uses, which consist of writing a page number next to the title of an entry with no particular order. In the united states, according to tradition, the index for a nonfiction book is the responsibility of the author. A professional indexer, familiar with the publishers requirements. Book indexes are created for publishers by freelancers who work at home. Formal courses and seminars some schools of library and information science offer courses in indexing and abstracting. You can get a list of these schools from your public. This is a step by step guide video to help you learn how to do it the.
Feb 01, 2016 i love to index books, because it requires intense thinking thats like writing in reverse. Page 18 in case of unimportant allusions to persons, such phrases as referred to, alluded to, cited and quoted are convenient and quite sufficient. The purpose of the index is to give the reader an informative, balanced portrait of what is in the book and a concise, useful guide to all. Examples are an index in the back matter of a book and an index that serves as a library catalog in a traditional backofthe book index, the. Since no two cookbooks are the same, there are no universal rules. Sevenproblem approach to indexing names 3 it would take a book in itself. At that point in the publishing process, the client a publisher, or a book production house contacts you and asks you to prepare an index. I believe the overriding rule, when creating book indexes, is to help the user. Crossreferences are an important part of terminology control in your book. What an index is not an index, as described in this article, is not a sequential list of the contents of your notebook.
Its the most practical and straightforward guide to the process of composing index entries and compiling a working index. In truth, every index should be a custom job, unique to the particular book. A good index should help readers find their way around a book. University of michigan press guidelines for indexing the university. Aug 21, 2020 if i come to an index fresh, i tend to do an initial skimread of the book to begin understanding its content and structure. This barcode number lets you verify that youre getting exactly the right version or edition of a book.
Book indexing is a vital job that professional book indexers do on a. They complement the table of contents by enabling access to information by specific subject, whereas contents listings enable access through broad divisions of the text arranged in the order they occur. This longawaited second edition, expanded and completely updated, will be equally revered. While i dont doubt this works for the author, personally i wouldnt call it an index its much more like a traditional books. The ideal page length should be in the range 46% of total typeset book pages. You might consider this if you regularly index full books, but it i. If you are looking for a publisher for your book, you know that publishers are fairly strict about the standards for indexing for their books. If your book is in another style, please ensure your index follows that style where it contradicts with. Pb pocket book a little tiny green notebook that i squeeze random ideas into and then put somewhere else. Would you say the following statements are true or false.
Indexing books, second edition chicago guides to writing. To make an index you must ask, for every passage in a book, if i were looking for this, what words would describe what i was looking for. The purpose of an index is to enable your readers to find specific information quickly. Professional book indexer joanne phillips shows its done. The indexing process begins at the pageproof stage. Include a short excerpt, accompanied by a permission statement. Apr 26, 2019 the great indexers strategy starts with internalizing the concept of the manuscript first in following steps. It is not intended to inform, educate, or tell a story. Its quite easy from the standpoint of operating the software, but it wont turn you int. Get familiar with the content and themes of the book at first. You can receive a discount on the purchase of printed indexing books through the asi.
877 619 360 705 299 838 274 413 40 450 517 631 1111 1027 143 785 783 793 670 1475 812 540 293 1099 1487 1453 324 1121 1206 1014 1205 1182 343 38 241 578