In my previous article, I discussed three reasons why hiring a professional book indexer may be a good idea for many scholarly authors. Later, it occurred to me that knowing you want to hire an indexer is just the beginning of the journey. Knowing where to find one can prove to be a challenge.
Indexers, Locating
Finding an excellent, qualified professional indexer is actually quite easy—if you know where to look. In this article I’ll be focusing on a couple of great resources for locating an indexer in the United States, but I’ll also provide some pointers for other countries at the end.
American Society for Indexing (ASI)
First up is the American Society for Indexing (ASI), the premier professional indexing association in the United States. The ASI provides a convenient and flexible Indexer Locator, searchable by the indexer’s name, by keyword, by the indexing or embedding software the indexer uses, by language specialties, by subject specialties, or by types of materials the indexer works with. The ASI also offers a variety of Special Interest Groups, or SIGs, for niche subjects such as Culinary Indexing, History and Archaeology Indexing, Periodical and Database Indexing, Scholarly Indexing, Sports and Fitness Indexing, Web and Electronic Indexing, and more.
Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA)
Like the ASI, the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) also offers a member directory, which can be searched by keyword, by name, by state (as in the indexer’s location, not condition), by skill, by specialty, by hardware, or by software—although in this case, for our narrow purpose of finding a professional indexer, the skills, hardware, and software search options may not really be all that helpful.
Indexing Societies Elsewhere
Other countries, of course, have their own professional indexing societies, associations, and networks, a few of which I'll list below, in no particular order:
Indexers, Selecting
As you can see, if you know where to look, finding a professional indexer isn’t difficult. Now all you have to do is choose from the plethora of my colleagues—which may not be quite as easy as finding them.
Indexers, Locating
Finding an excellent, qualified professional indexer is actually quite easy—if you know where to look. In this article I’ll be focusing on a couple of great resources for locating an indexer in the United States, but I’ll also provide some pointers for other countries at the end.
American Society for Indexing (ASI)
First up is the American Society for Indexing (ASI), the premier professional indexing association in the United States. The ASI provides a convenient and flexible Indexer Locator, searchable by the indexer’s name, by keyword, by the indexing or embedding software the indexer uses, by language specialties, by subject specialties, or by types of materials the indexer works with. The ASI also offers a variety of Special Interest Groups, or SIGs, for niche subjects such as Culinary Indexing, History and Archaeology Indexing, Periodical and Database Indexing, Scholarly Indexing, Sports and Fitness Indexing, Web and Electronic Indexing, and more.
Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA)
Like the ASI, the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) also offers a member directory, which can be searched by keyword, by name, by state (as in the indexer’s location, not condition), by skill, by specialty, by hardware, or by software—although in this case, for our narrow purpose of finding a professional indexer, the skills, hardware, and software search options may not really be all that helpful.
Indexing Societies Elsewhere
Other countries, of course, have their own professional indexing societies, associations, and networks, a few of which I'll list below, in no particular order:
- The Indexing Society of Canada
- The Society of Indexers (United Kingdom and Ireland)
- The Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers
- The German Network of Indexers (Deutsches Netzwerk der Indexer)
- The China Society of Indexers (中国索引学会)
Indexers, Selecting
As you can see, if you know where to look, finding a professional indexer isn’t difficult. Now all you have to do is choose from the plethora of my colleagues—which may not be quite as easy as finding them.
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