Indexing
What I index:
I index academic and trade non-fiction in the social sciences, and cookbooks. In addition to traditional back-of-book indexes, I have a specialization in crafting embedded indexes (specifically Cambridge University Press indexes) and other tag-based indexes.
Because of my interdisciplinary background, I am very comfortable working with a broad array of social science disciplines, including political science and international relations, gender studies, anthropology, sociology, history, American studies, ethnic studies, religious studies, geography, education, library and information science, communication studies and interdisciplinary studies.
Rates
My rates are reasonable, and dependent upon the complexity of the work and upon your time-frame. My standard rates range from $5.50-$6.50 per indexable page for scholarly books, but I am always open to working with an author to find an agreeable number. (I was on faculty for over a decade; I understand the funding situations and options.) The standard rate takes many elements into consideration -- is it an edited volume? Is it highly specialized? Does the index have special requirements? Is it embedded or a standard back of book? Is it longer than usual? Is the page density in the normal range, or exceptionally dense? All of these will impact the costs of indexing.
Why hire an indexer?
As an author, your job is to express your ideas as clearly and eloquently as you can. As an indexer, my job is to:
analyze your text to identify concepts and themes throughout, and bring them together as needed;
determine which concepts are important and which are passing mentions;
organize these concepts into meaningful and useful headings and subheadings;
anticipate how your readers will look for information in your book.
I use my years of experience working with faculty and students to accomplish these goals, and in the process I save you time and frustration. The end result is a beautiful, useful, back-of-the-book index.