Society of Indexers

24/07/2025

How do you find the right book indexer for your book? Use our Professional Directory and you'll find an indexer with the right expertise and experience for your project https://buff.ly/pxxfSO4

22/07/2025

What makes a good book indexer? Our blog post explains what you need to work in this fascinating and varied job. Indexers come from all sorts of professional backgrounds and many work part-time alongside other jobs

This is the first of a series of posts discussing how to become an indexer. In this post, Tanya Izzard discusses the attributes of a good indexer. Background Many indexers come from a library and information science background, but almost any previous career will give you knowledge and experience th...

21/07/2025

Still time to book for our 2025 Conference, The Heart and Mind of Indexing. Running from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 September, at The Writers’ Suite, Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre, Birmingham, UK. We have a full programme of sessions and social events for indexers at all stages of their careers; there will be keynotes, breakout sessions, a gala dinner and of course a quiz. Book your place at via https://buff.ly/agRO01Q

18/07/2025

Need an indexer for your non-fiction book? Our Professional Directory can be filtered by subject and type of publication to find the right indexer for your project https://buff.ly/pxxfSO4

17/07/2025

SI members met for our monthly online Coffee Morning today to hear indexer David Green talk about the experience of indexing his own writings. David is the author of four true crime genre works; his most recent publication is The Murder of Lily White. David, an experienced indexer of others' true crime books, indexed all his books himself and gave a fascinating account of this work.

Generally, authors may not always be the best indexers of their own work: however, they may choose to for reasons of cost, curiosity and intellectual challenge, a belief that nobody else will understand the book or unwillingness to trust someone else with the work. Advice to authors sometimes suggests - misleadingly - that it is quite easy and underestimates the work involved in creating a good syndetic index.

Some of the difficulties author-indexers can have are being too close to the material so you can't take a detached, reader-perspective point of view; lack of indexing skills and knowledge; and lack of time or energy to produce a good index, especially at the end of a long book project. David noticed his own tendency to index his darlings, facts and topics that he was very proud of discovering, but which might not actually be indexable.

Term selection can be easier in some ways, since authors understand their own terminology. But thinking of terms the reader might look for can be harder, as you need to shift your perspective to discover these. It's also harder to achieve neutrality in the index when it gives you, as the author, a space to continue the arguments you make in the text.

David also talked about the writing process, and thinking like an indexer when you do this - ensuring terms are clear and that names are unambiguous. We also discussed the issue of representing victims fairly and completely in true crime books and indexes, and how to deal with working on dark or upsetting material - take breaks, and have something lighter to read or watch, was David's advice.

Interestingly, David's route into indexing was via an online community of anagram enthusiasts, which included - unsurprisingly - a few indexers. Celebrated C19 indexer Henry Wheatley was himself an anagram enthusiast. David included an anagrammatic Easter Egg in his presentation, too.

If you're an author approaching the indexing phase of your book, we have some useful guidance for you: https://buff.ly/66qUf4j

16/07/2025

Are you a publishing professional who’s new to working with book indexers? Our guide to commissioning an index takes you through the whole process and helps you build good working relationships, which lead to great indexes https://buff.ly/VDYF0ad

15/07/2025

Have you ever considered becoming a book indexer? It’s a stimulating career working flexibly from home with publishers and authors. Learn more from our blog series on becoming an indexer https://buff.ly/7NJ1cle

03/07/2025

Our post-lunch breakout sessions at on Sunday 21 September are Madelon Nanninga on breaking the rules and Sue Penny on client communication. Book your place at the earlybird rate until Mon 7 July at

The Society of Indexers 2025 conference will be an in-person residential conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre at the University of Birmingham from Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’, inspi...

03/07/2025

Late morning breakout sessions at on Sunday 21 September are Caroline Diepeveen on working on large projects and Ruth Martin on indexing emotions/emotional indexing. Book your place at the earlybird rate until Mon 7 July at

The Society of Indexers 2025 conference will be an in-person residential conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre at the University of Birmingham from Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’, inspi...

02/07/2025

Our regular Talking about the Past Zoom group met this morning to talk about indexing art history.

We discussed when to index places in art history, especially where artworks are normally located. This is something that often gets squeezed out when index space is tight, but is very useful for anyone trying to track down a particular painting. Museums and collections are often indexable, however.

Dealing with titles in art history can be another challenge. Should works appear under artist AND title? Can we truncate very long titles, and what should we do about works called Untitled? Artworks were rarely named before the 19th century, so titles are mutable and may have many alternatives - should we double post 'Mona Lisa' and 'La Gioconda'?

Art history books are often full of illustrations and there are various ways to deal with these: by plate/image number, by page number, and indicated with bold or italics so that the reader knows where to find the image. But they may not be indexed at all if there is not enough space. This is a pity, as they are such an important part of any art history book.

The sample indexes we reviewed showed the added value indexers bring by researching names, alternative titles, checking and verifying information, and collocating information to help readers find what they need.

We closed with a question about artwork authenticity. Lots of indexes will have this painting down as a Rubens, but some art historians aren't so sure: https://buff.ly/gNADcya

Thanks as always to Ann Hudson for facilitating, and indexer and art historian Julia Smith for bringing her expertise. We always start by saying how long we've been indexing: the collective experience in the room was around 200 years. All SI members are welcome to tap into that fund of expertise.

Former curator’s comments, later withdrawn, reignite debate over attribution of Samson and Delilah painting

02/07/2025

We finish Saturday with a panel discussion on working with authors, with panellists including authors and index enthusiasts Dennis Duncan and Caroline Sanderson, followed by a series of lightning talks. Book your place at the earlybird rate until Mon 7 July at

The Society of Indexers 2025 conference will be an in-person residential conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre at the University of Birmingham from Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’, inspi...

02/07/2025

And for those who'd like something different, Lyndsay Marshall's breakout session will explore mindful collage and journaling to support wellbeing. Book your place at the earlybird rate until Mon 7 July at

The Society of Indexers 2025 conference will be an in-person residential conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre at the University of Birmingham from Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’, inspi...