Meet the best indexers in the industry
Book indexing is the process of compiling a complete overview of the information in your book so that it is accessible to readers. A good index helps catalog the content of your book, organize its terms and concepts, and clearly organize your book for interested users.
On Reedsy, meet indexers who work on bestselling and award-winning books. With years of experience at Big 5 publishers, our indexers know how to identify significant concepts and create a comprehensive index.
Dick H.
Available to hire
Experienced London-based editor of fiction (novels, short stories, plays), biography, art and culture and personal statements.
Blair P.
Available to hire
Seasoned editor turning heartbreak and struggle into inspirational stories to encourage others. Author of Empty Hands Made Full.
Helen C.
Available to hire
Meticulous copy editor, proofreader and financial journalist
Elanor H.
Available to hire
An experienced academic copy editor who has a flexible approach and great customer care. No job too small—article, thesis, book or paper!
Nancy C.
Available to hire
Specializing in memoir, cookbooks, and female-led fiction, I am an editor and coach with 20+ years of guiding authors to finish and finesse.
How to choose an indexer
At Reedsy, we handpick our book indexers for their industry experience: to guarantee the quality of your collaboration, only the top 3% of applicants are accepted. Browse profiles to meet the perfect indexer for your book.
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Request quotes from up to 5 professionals in your genre with a free Reedsy account.
Why work with a professional indexer?
While book indexing might seem like something you can DIY, it’s a time-consuming and error-prone process if you don’t have the training. Imagine what would happen, for instance, if you:
- Realize halfway through indexing your manuscript that you forgot to incorporate an important topic? You’ll have to start all over again.
- Discover halfway through book indexing that you don’t know exactly what readers want to see in your index? You’ll have to start all over again.
That’s why all publishers turn to professional indexers with years of training to identify and catalog all of a manuscript’s core concepts. Professional indexers analyze the text as they read and structure the index with multiple access points. They know how to best group related information and concepts together, even when inconsistent terminology is used.
Perhaps most importantly, they will leave out extraneous information, passing mentions of topics that lack depth, duplicated material, and other things that would frustrate a reader who’s just trying to access the information they want. In short, a professional indexer raises the value of your book in the eyes of readers.
Can’t I just use an automated indexing software?
There is software out there that will automatically search for all instances of a particular word or phrase and use this to auto-populate an index. However, these simply can’t replace the manual work of a professional indexer.
Consider this example. On the left, someone has just run a search for “child support” and put the page numbers in an “index.” On the right, we see what a professional indexer would create — a cross-referenced list that drills into the various aspects of the main topic. Now, which one best helps your reader?
Automated search functions cannot provide readers with any sort of explanatory context, and they omit synonyms or similar expressions that would also relate to the same topic. They will also offer no distinction between a mention “in passing” and a careful analysis of the topic.
While automated search systems can certainly save time, it is only in the hands of an experienced indexer that this kind of software can help produce something of value to readers.
If you don’t want to waste months of your time and alienate your readers, hand your index over to a qualified professional.
FAQs
What does an indexer do?
Why is a good index crucial for nonfiction books?
