Indexing as a Viable Profession
by Janet Perlman
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 part-time career opportunity, indexing might be just the thing for you.
Preparing book indexes (and other kinds of indexes) is a viable career option. It’s an important function in the publishing world, and almost always done by freelancers. It appeals to those who love to organize information and things. It is analytical and intellectual. It appeals to those with an entrepreneurial bent. It gives you the freedom to run your own business with very little equipment and no up-front investment (no fees, no franchise, no pyramid scheme). And it allows you to set your own work hours.
Here’s how it works. After a book has been written and edited it is ready for an indexer to create the index that appears at the back of the book. That’s the part of the book that helps a reader or researcher find the information in the text of the book. It’s like a vault of data in alphabetical order, telling you where to go in the book to find information. It’s a road map to the book.
The client (typically a publisher, author, editor, or a book production house) contacts you and asks you to prepare an index. 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.
What you are actually doing is reading the book and thinking as you read where you would list the concepts and information in an alphabetical list if you wanted to find it again at a later time. This is the thought process you need to have. You are creating a “finding tool” for the reader.
Once done with the index, you return it to the client as an RTF file or a Word file by the due date, along with your invoice, and you’re done.
What equipment do you need?
You need internet connectivity and an up-to-date computer, good word processing software, a PDF reader, and indexing software. What does the indexing software do? It’s a standalone program for you to enter the index entries, one at a time. There are several types of software that do different jobs, but each one organizes the entries, puts them into alphabetical order, runs the page numbers entered into numerical order, and allows you to see what the index looks like as you enter the individual entries. It allows you to compare similar entries and makes the work of compiling the index much easier. It does not find entries for you, that is the job of the indexer.
How do you learn indexing?
There are a few self-study courses available, some taught by experienced indexers, others by universities, and another through the American Society for Indexing. For around $1,000, you can get the training and some mentorship you need to be ready to start your career.
No professional certification or degree is needed. You study and learn, become proficient, and you’re ready to go. It’s always a good idea to have your early work peer reviewed and critiqued (there are ways of doing that), so that your professional development continues after the initial course. And the more you work at it, the quicker you get at using the software and figuring out which work methods are best for you. But basically, beyond learning the skills and software, you need nothing else besides your brain.
You will be your own boss, setting your own hours and rates. Many people earn a nice living as full-time indexers, and many others do indexing in addition to other types of work or in addition to their family responsibilities. The opportunities are endless.
What does an indexer earn?
You may be wondering what an indexer earns. It depends–on how much time you can put into your business, on your level of expertise, and on your professional abilities to go after business and be well-paid. Usual rates are per book page, at a rate of about $3.50 to $5.50 per page. That means you could make anywhere from $1,050 to $1,650 for doing the index for a 300-page book. Rates vary and can be higher for very complex or specialized material and as you gain experience.. Your annual earnings will vary depending on both your rates and the volume of work you do in a year.
Ebooks and indexing
Historically, indexing of traditionally printed books was where this all started. But as we march into the digital future, there are other materials that need indexes also. Ebooks frequently don’t have indexes, but they certainly can, and should. Databases, on-line materials, and websites also need indexes, and there is software available for this kind of indexing also. Corporate materials, legal documents, and catalogs need indexes. So although book indexing is the traditional form of indexing, there are many possibilities now within the field, some of them very modern and involving digital media.
There is an active community of indexers in cyberspace, bolstered by a professional organization–the American Society for Indexing (ASI)www.asindexing.org. There are discussion lists (more than one) for chatting, problem solving, and advice. There are ASI webinars, conferences, and chapters and chapter events. And there is a good body of literature (books especially) available for continuing professional development.
Janet Perlman has been providing publishers with quality indexes as Southwest Indexing for more than 35 years. Her dual specialties are science-based and engineering books, and Spanish-language materials. Janet has served the American Society for Indexing for many years, both locally in Arizona and at the national level. She is a former Treasurer of ASI.
Janet has presented many indexing workshops and is also an author. Besides articles in professional publications, she has published Running An Indexing Business (Information Today Inc., 2002), Index it Right, Vol. 2 (Information Today Inc., 2009, with Enid Zafran), and Indexing Tactics and Tidbits: An A to Z Guide (Information Today Inc., 2016).