October 2001

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INTRODUCTION   This guide is intended primarily for authors who, for the first time, need to index their own work; it also includes information on how indexes should be formatted and submitted to Boydell & Brewer. It is not intended to be exhaustive. If you want to know more about indexing see the Further Reading section at the end of the guide.

CONSIDERATIONS   Although you will be very familiar with the material, you should bear in mind that the index needs to be easily usable by readers coming to your work for the first time; their terminology or conceptual grasp of the subject may be different from your own. This is particularly true if you are writing a book for a general readership rather than for the academic community.

If possible, arrange with a colleague or friend to (a) review the index at an early stage to see if you're going in the right direction and (b) try using the completed index to look up a few topics.

The amount of time required to produce a good index should not be underestimated. Indexing is a creative task in its own right and a good index will make a good book immeasurably better.

PROCESS   The indexing process breaks down into stages. 
1. Preparation before you receive page-proofs 
2. Compilation of the index entries and their page references from page proofs
3. Editing the index

You will receive a separate set of page-proofs for the purpose of indexing. You will normally be given three weeks from page-proof stage to compile the index.