Why Hire a Professional Indexer?
Hiring a professional indexer brings several key benefits, ensuring your index is accurate, thorough, and user-friendly:
Expertise and Precision: A professional indexer possesses the specialised knowledge to identify key topics, terms, and concepts and to organise them logically. They ensure consistency throughout the document and create an index that adds real value to your work, making it easy for readers to navigate.
Saving Time and Effort: Indexing is a time-consuming process. By outsourcing this task to a professional, you can focus on the content of your manuscript, confident that the index will be handled efficiently and with care.
Ensuring a Reader-Focused Design: A professional indexer will create an index that is designed with the reader in mind, making it intuitive and accessible. The aim is to ensure that your readers can easily find the information they need, enhancing how they experience your work.
Adherence to Publisher Standards: Experienced indexers are familiar with the specific formatting and style guidelines required by different publishers. This ensures that your index meets industry standards and is ready for publication, saving you time and avoiding unnecessary revisions.
When to Hire an Indexer?
Timing is crucial when it comes to indexing, and knowing when to bring in a professional indexer can make all the difference in meeting deadlines and maintaining the quality of your work.
Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute: Indexing is typically one of the final steps in the publishing process, but it still requires time and attention to detail. Ideally, an indexer should be involved in the process after the manuscript has been fully edited and proofread but before it goes into final typesetting. This allows the indexer to review the text in its final form, capturing all the key terms and concepts with accuracy.
Include Time for Revision: While a professional indexer will create a first draft, it’s important to factor in enough time for revisions. As the author, you may wish to adjust terms or include additional details based on your specific audience or publication requirements. Having ample time for these revisions ensures the index is as thorough and effective as possible.
Deadlines and Publishing Schedules: If you're working with a publisher, your timeline may already be set, and it’s essential to work within those parameters. Publishing schedules are often tight, and having the index completed on time can be just as important as meeting the manuscript submission deadline. Be sure to communicate your timelines clearly with your indexer, so they can work within the time constraints and ensure a timely delivery to the highest standards.
Latest indexes completed:
- Late Medieval Devotion to Saints from the North of England: New Directions, Brepols, Ed. Denis Renevey and Christiania Whitehead. Collection of Essays.
- Renevey, Denis. Devotion to the Name of Jesus in Medieval English Literature, c.1100-c.1530, University of Oxford Press, Monograph.
- Steiner Karafili, Enit. Contesting Cosmopolitan Moments in the Long Eighteenth Century, Edinburgh University Press, Monograph.
