Why have an index in a book?

Books need indexes for many different reasons. The people who use them include lecturers, teachers and students, librarians, book reviewers, browsers and purchasers of books.

The indexer, who is a professional, should be briefed to understand the material in the book and create an alphabetical list of the topics covered, in such a way that readers (at any level) can be taken to their desired entry point and find the information they need as directly as possible without missing an entry term or terms.

In order to produce a good index, the indexer should know the subject and understand the level of the intended audience. A particular type of subject categorisation is required, together with training and experience, as well as the ability to analyse the content, work at a considerable pace, correct and edit the final index and produce a useful tool for the reader/user.

What training do indexers in South Africa require?

Most South African indexers have a degree in Information Science, which gave them a background to the classification of materials and introduced the principles of indexing journals and books. Many qualified indexers had this kind of background and experience before they ventured into freelancing.

Finding an indexer

A list of freelance indexers is available on this website under the heading Find an expert. Please set the first filter in ‘Areas of expertise’ as ‘Indexing’ and then set other filters for your specific requirements. The following filters will be most useful:

‘Subject areas’. It is important to select an indexer who is familiar with the subject area of the book to be indexed. This means that they are familiar with terms used in the subject field. An example of incongruity would be to choose a legal indexer to index an economics textbook.

‘Special subjects’ and ‘Skill detail’. PEG’s Directory of Members’ Services allows its members to specify subject categories that are not included in the main list of subject areas but can be searched for in the ‘Special subjects’ and ‘Skill detail’ fields.

‘Region’. In today’s wired world, location is no longer important because indexers work electronically and can receive and submit their indexes via email. Book files that are too large to be emailed can be handled by facilities such as Google shared drives, Dropbox or WeTransfer. However, the ‘Region’ field will help publishers who wish to use local freelancers.

Briefing the indexer

The publisher’s brief should contain some or all of the following information:

• name and address of the indexer
• time schedule
• style and arrangement of the index
• number of subheading levels
• format and layout of the index, including alphabetisation
• indexing terms suggested by the author/s
• editing and proofreading the index
• the agreed fee
• payment terms
• the service level agreement
• copyright

The time factor

Indexing is a painstaking process so it is rare for an indexer to save a publisher time in the production cycle. The publisher should therefore factor the following considerations into the project schedule:

• the length of the book (or journal)
• its potential readership (level and specialisation). This determines the depth and level of indexing.
• the complexity of the material
• the number of pages available for the index
• the work rate of the indexer, together with their knowledge of the subject matter
• additional requirements, such as the indexing of tables, illustrations, footnotes and end notes
• the provision of early proofs, such as first pages where there may be a number of errors. A good example of this is varied
• spelling of terms that has not been ironed out and affects terms in the index
• errors in pagination in the proofs
• a requirement for an e-pub index at the same time as a print index
• the experience of the indexer

Indexing fees

As a result of numerous enquiries regarding fees for different types of indexing, the following general guideline has been drawn up. This list is based on the type of material and work by an experienced freelance indexer, and should be regarded as a guide only.

1. primary and secondary school textbooks: R25 to R30 per page
2. tertiary level textbooks: R30 to R35 per page
3. general non-fiction: R35 to R38 per page
4. academic: R38 to R45 per page
5. specialised fields: R40 to R48 per page
6. e-pubs: R40 to R45 per page

An hourly rate is not used because the speed of indexing varies according to subject knowledge and indexer experience, as well as the complexity of the text and other indexable material, such as footnotes, endnotes, preliminary pages, tables and illustrations.

Please note that unqualified or under-qualified and inexperienced people should not expect to earn the above rates.

The fees payable should be negotiated by the indexer and publisher, and should form a part of the agreement laid down in the publisher’s brief to the indexer.

Pressure to produce an index in an unusually short time will increase the above rates.

Please note that there should be no different (or added) charges applied to indexing for subjects such as law, medicine, engineering and economics. For these and similar subjects, select a knowledgeable subject specialist. However, the rates for specialised fields (see item 5 above) could apply in certain circumstances, especially where an in-depth knowledge of the subject is required.

Time taken

A roughly normal time schedule for indexing is about 100 pages per week, but other factors as detailed above increase the time required, as do amendments and revisions received late from the publisher.

Arrangement

The alphabetical arrangement of indexes is usually the word-by-word method, where short words precede longer words with the same letters. A letter-by-letter arrangement is not usually advised for book indexes as it is often confusing to the reader.

E-pubs

Indexes for electronic publications require specialised knowledge, therefore it is not usually advisable to do a direct conversion of a print book index to an e-pub index. They can be done at the same time as a print book index, but allowance should be made for electronic retrieval and thus terms may differ. For this reason (and greater complexity) publishers should allocate a higher rate to this work.

Credit

It is usual to credit the indexer in the text credits.

Submitting and editing the index

The index is usually submitted to the publisher electronically. There are a number of indexing software packages that can be used for this purpose, but not all indexers use these. Microsoft Word is commonly used.
Indexers should consult the publisher regarding features that facilitate the typesetting process, eg setting tabs for indents, or using the space bar for aligning indents and hyphenating page locators.

Proofreading the index

Indexers should take responsibility for proofreading their indexes once they have been typeset. A number of errors can occur, which are often not discerned by the publisher’s in-house or freelance proofreaders.

This aspect should be regarded as quality control of your index and is not separately chargeable. Indexers should allocate time for this.

Examples of errors which can occur after typesetting include:-

• omitting to use italics for page locators to indicate material in tables or figures
• multiple levels of indentation
• indentation incorrectly applied

Once the book is published, the indexer should receive a complimentary copy from the publisher

Other considerations

Author involvement

Authors sometimes want to see whether the index accurately provides access to their concepts. If this is the case, it should be included in the agreement and additional time should be allowed for any changes that they may require. The publisher should also notify the indexer if changes may be required after the initial submission of the index.

New editions

A new edition of a book needs a completely new index. The index cannot be based on an earlier design made for different text in an earlier edition of the book. Even if the previous indexer is employed to index the new edition, it is advisable for that indexer to start anew and produce an index based entirely upon the new text.

Publishers will not save time in the project process by expecting the work to be based on outdated earlier material.

Revising an existing index

There are seldom good reasons to revise an index, except if it is a new layout and the publisher wishes to fit it into a smaller space. The font size can be reduced without editing the index, and this may solve the problem. Another method is to increase the number of columns per page.

After any such change, it is best to ask the indexer to check the work. Indexers can identify errors that in-house proofreaders often bypass.

Translations

Indexers are sometimes asked to translate an index when a book is translated into another language. Please note that this is not a fruitful exercise and an indexer well-versed in the language of the translation should be employed to index the book from scratch. Publishers may expect the index to be translated, but there are linguistic problems with this approach.

There are, however, a number of indexers who will index in both English and Afrikaans – refer to Find an expert for these freelancers. The number of trained indexers in other South African national languages is increasing.

Indexes for e-books

Publishers are advised to ensure the person they choose to create an index for an e-book has the necessary training or experience to do the work because these indexes require a different approach than other indexes. However, there is a growing pool of indexers who understand the differences in the treatment of terms used for electronic searching.

Information about bibliographic referencing

Training in bibliographic referencing

Most indexers have studied various bibliographic styles. Their training in cataloguing and reference methods has taken place during undergraduate degrees in Information Science, as well as in the postgraduate diploma and degree studies. For this reason, they are excellent people to employ for reference checking – in books, journals, and dissertations.

Many indexing freelancers have been tasked with establishing consistency in various bibliographic styles by different publishers. It is more cost efficient to remove this task from an editor and entrust it to a highly skilled bibliographer who is easily able to handle the various exceptions that occur in reference lists in whichever style the publisher has set.

Charges for bibliographical referencing and reference checking

Basic charges for this service are levied per item at R10-R15 per item, or per page at R50-R100 per page of references.
This renders indexing freelancers’ services highly competitive in today’s cost-cutting market. Please note that the bibliographer works only on the reference list and checks any citations in the text for matches to the style selected.

Other services offered

Some indexers produce subject or author/personality bibliographies commissioned by publishers. Please consult the directory in ‘Find an Indexer’ for individuals who have specialised in compiling bibliographies.