Book Indexing For Authors: How to create a professional nonfiction index in Word

by Michelle Campbell-Scott, Katherine Verne

Take a look in a library or bookstore and you will find few nonfiction books that don't have indexes. That's because publishers know how important the presence of an index is to readers - and therefore how vital it is for sales. An index is like a guidepost or map for your readers. It tells them what to expect from your book, where to find topics that interest them, and - importantly - what isn't in the book. This means that it reduces the chances of poor reviews and increases the chances of positive reviews. An index helps usability, which makes it more useful to readers. If you are an author thinking of creating your own index, you're in good company. There is quite a precedent for author-indexes (especially in the world of academia, where subjects are so specialist that it's hard to find a professional indexer with relevant experience). This book will guide you through the process of writing your own index and show you how to do it yourself in Microsoft Word. (Sorry, no specific Mac instructions but Office 365 now works beautifully on Macs and is very similar to Word for Windows.) This book is for you if… This book may not be for you if…

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 3, 2017

About the author

Back from Mexico after an amazing 2-year roadtrip in an RV with my daughter.

Reviews

[David Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous help with laying out the index of my self-published book. The book is easy to reference and refer to as needed while working on my index. This book empowered me to do my own index.