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Visit the Indexing FAQ at the American Society of Indexers web site for answers to basic questions like what is indexing, who does indexing, and how is indexing done. There is also an FAQ written by the owner of the indexstudents discussion list. A few other indexers have excellent descriptions of their own processes on their web sites: Martha Osgood, Marilyn Rowland, and Jan Wright. Here's a quick summary of what you'll find in those pages... indexing is not simply taking words out of a text, and alphabetizing those words. It is subject analysis. That is, reading a sentence and finding what it is "about" rather than what it "says". Which means that (1) computer-generated indexes (or concordances, rather) are rarely useful without some human manipulation, and (2) when authors index their own texts, they index what they intended a sentence to say, rather than what readers may get from a sentence. It is uncommon for authors to objectively index their work, and to be open to seeing that they are saying much more than they intended to say. Enter the professional indexer.
Although indexes are usually authors' responsibility (as spelled out in their contracts), they usually do not locate and contract with indexers on their own. They usually ask their editors, publishers or packagers to contact indexers on which they can rely, and indexing fees are taken out of payments due to authors. (Interesting Note: publishers do not treat illustrators, editors, or proofreaders fees in this manner.) Most often, it is publishers and editors who contact me with indexing projects. The index is often the last thing on their minds until it is needed. That is, about two weeks before the book goes to press, someone remembers the index. This situation can be a problem for some publishers: indexers they rely on might be booked, and with little time they have to locate and contact other indexers. There are a few publishers who actually schedule index preparation at the planning stages of their projects. As you can guess, they often end up with better indexes because they take time to select an indexer with a specialization in the subject, and the indexer can make any necessary preparations in advance of receiving the text.
When a publisher contacts me, I ask questions about the work to determine if it is a project I will accept. After all the details are ironed out, I send a contract to the publisher. The contract is signed and is usually returned with the page proofs.
I work from page proofs or galleys (after layout is complete and page numbers are set). Electronic copies can be an excellent complement to the printed copy, and I do appreciate having access to them. When schedules are tight, I sometimes work with drafts of page proofs before page numbers are set. This allows me to create index entries and solidify the structure of the index, so at the last minute I'm adjusting page numbers rather than constructing the entire index.
Below is an excerpt from Inside Indexing that describes my process.
Typically, I follow the steps below when writing indexes. I'm not rigid about following these steps in the order presented here. For example, I often intertwine Steps Three and Four. I might do Steps Three and Four for one chapter, then Steps Three and Four for another chapter, and so on.
At this point, I have a first draft of my index. It is rare that my first draft looks much like my finished product. In this book you'll see excerpts from my first draft of my index so I want to explain some of my entry-creation quirks. My tendency to overindex manifests itself in my first draft in several ways. First, I often create several levels of headings, including sub-sub-subs. Doing this makes it easier for me to keep track of relationships and potential access points. Second, my entries are wordy. This is another way for me to pack entries with information that I might use during editing. Third, I create some enormously long entries that have a lot of subheadings. Beginning my editing phase with long, wordy, multi-leveled entries means I revisit the text less often than I would if my first draft included scant entries.
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