Advice for Editors and Authors

A page of online resources for editors and indexers.

ASI. Resources>Indexing>Editing

American Society of Indexers

ASI is the only professional organization in the United States devoted solely to the advancement of indexing, abstracting, and database building.

ASI. Organizations>Editing>Indexing

Indexing Conferences and Trade Shows

Indexers may want to attend these events or present workshops at them.

ASI. Academic>Conferences>Indexing

Working With Freelance Indexers

An otherwise good book can be significantly enhanced by a good index and seriously weakened by a poor one. Nevertheless, it seems to be a house rule in publishing, probably for reasons of cost, that the editor asks and expects the author to create a book's index. But while, of course, an author can sometimes produce a good index, many authors are not well-suited to the task. Unless an author has previously indexed a book, he or she is unlikely to have the experience or proficiency, not to mention the time, to create an index that comes close to the level of quality routinely achieved by an experienced professional indexer. That is because there are, in fact, particular indexing skills that are developed with experience.

ASI (1998). Articles>Indexing