Book review for
Book indexing. A step-by-step guide by Stephen Ullstrom.
This book on indexing was published in 2023 and comes in an ebook format as well as a paperback format.
The author states in the Preface that this book is intended as a practical introduction to indexing and it is for anyone interested in learning about book indexing from authors thinking about indexing their own book to people considering indexing as a career.
This indexing guide follows North American usage, based on the Chicago Manual of Style.
The chapters end with summaries (Takeaways) and exercises to try yourself (Try this).
In Chapter 1, Ullstrom explains what an index is and what is not an index, such as concordances, table of contents and keyword searches.
Ullstrom discusses decision-making when writing an index using a short autobiographical index he wrote as an example.
He goes on to discuss if your book needs an index and if it needs one index or multiple indexes. For instance, in biblical and theological studies a separate scripture index and a general index for subjects and names, or separate name and subject indexes might be required.
Ullstrom poses questions for authors to ask themselves if they should write their own index and the amount of time needed to index a book.
Ullstrom focuses on basic components of terminology, entries, arrays, main headings, subheadings, locators and cross-references in Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 explains how to select terms, and deals with who is the audience of the book i.e., who is the index for. Other topics covered include aboutness and the hierarchy of information, the metatopic, supermain discussions and headings, regular discussions and headings, smaller details, significant insignificant details, passing mentions, how writing an index is like building a house, and creating a mind map to express interrelationships between headings.
Chapter 4 deals with structure and how the entries and arrays fit together. He explains how the structure can be built from the table of contents and advice for when the book structure is unclear, when there is extensive background discussion of the metatopic, when there is almost no discussion of the metatopic, when the metatopic is complicated and when the book contains multiple, interweaving elements/multiple access points.
Chapter 5 focuses on the format of the index including the layout (indented or run-in format), sub-subheadings, em-dash-modified format, sorting, alphabetical sorting (letter-by-letter and word-by-word sorting), articles, conjunctions and prepositions, chronological and page order sort, force-sorting, numbers and symbols, capitalization of main headings.
Chapter 6 discusses the five-step framework for indexing, three methods for getting the index down on the page, including indexing with index cards, indexing with a word processor, indexing with specialized software, number of entries you need to pick up per page, asking for feedback about your index, layout and typesetting of the index, indexing from a list of terms, updating an index, and Ullstrom’s own indexing process.
Chapter 7 covers the finer points of indexing and looks at ways to add polish and to navigate potentially tricky situations. Points covered include consistency, comprehensiveness, headnotes and explanatory notes, long strings of undifferentiated locators, footnotes and endnotes, wording (phrasing terms), jargon, terms of art and plain language, neutral and unbiased language, offensive language, names, glosses, art, books, films, music, newspapers, and other creative works, and space constraints.
In Chapter 8 Ullstrom offers tip for indexing various types of books: trade versus scholarly; monographs versus edited collections; history, biographies, memoirs and family history; letters and journals; how-to and self-help; business books; guidebooks; children's books; cookbooks; health and medical books; legal books; name indexes; index locorum and scripture indexes; fiction and fictional characters; policies and procedures, reports and user manuals.
Chapter 9 concludes with advice on becoming a professional indexer; training to be an indexer; hiring an indexer; software for indexing; Ebook indexes and embedded indexing.
The resources section includes a glossary of terms; books, articles and other resources including general resources on indexing; journals and newsletters; biographies and names; indexing for children; cookbooks; embedded indexing; fiction and fictional characters; history; legal indexing; medical indexing; military history; scripture indexes and Index locorum; structure and term selection; and indexing societies.
Finally, there is a bibliography of examples and, of course, a very comprehensive index.