Ken Hassman is a good friend of mine; he owns his own book indexing company, Hassman Book Indexing Service. I decided to ask him for an interview. Book indexing is an art form, not everyone can do it. Ken has created indices for some of the biggest names in the publishing industry, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, McGraw Hill and many others.

1. How did you get into this business and how long have you been indexing books?

My indexing career began with a chance meeting at a friend’s daughter’s wedding where I ran into old friends I hadn’t seen in years. In catching up, I found that they had a really successful indexing business.

When I was told this I said exactly what people say to me: “Indexing, what is that?” They gave me the same answer that I have given many times since: “Indexes, you know, those things at the end of books.”

They asked me if I would like to learn the art/skill of indexing and advised me with paying jobs for the next two years during my last two years of teaching at the school. Like good friends, after more than two years they offered to help me start my own indexing business and introduced me to a couple of their clients.

2. When did you decide to go your own way?

In March 2005, I had to let the school board of the district where I was teaching know if I was going to return next year and decided I had served my purpose and with the blessings of my friends and indexing mentors. I handed in my resignation effective June 2005.

3. For which publishers have you carried out indexing work?

Two of my main publishing clients for about 4 years have been Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. I have great relationships with a variety of production editors at both publishers and both submit indexing jobs directly to me and/or are contacted by authors.

In addition, I have indexed many books for Cengage Learning, ABC-CLIO (formerly Greenwood Publishing Group), Springer, Wiley Blackwell, World Net Daily Books, New Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, WestEd, and the International Society for Technology in Education.

4. How important is an index to the success of a book?

Based on the feedback I’ve received, indices are considered quite important. Many book dealers will no longer consider selling nonfiction books if they don’t have an index.

5. What do you think are the biggest obstacles in your industry today?

Much of what happens in the publishing world is outsourced to India and for freelancers like me this has caused a big change in the amount of work we receive. Some of the publishers I’ve worked for have expressed sadness about this because they feel bad for the US-based freelancers they’ve worked with for years and hope that eventually the work will find its way back to The USA.

6. Do you charge by the hour or by the job?

Most of the indices are based on a fee per page. I might get a book and be asked to create a medium density index, which means 3 or 4 index entries per page and get paid $3 per page. I may be asked for a light density index of 1-2 index entries per page and paid at the rate of $2-2.50 per page and I may be asked to index a single subject encyclopedia that requires about 15 index entries per page and will be paid at the rate of $7 per indexable page. You can see that there is a wide range.

7. Do you have any advice for authors considering an index?

Indexing is a tedious and laborious process. It’s much more than just creating a “head word” match with a long list of undistinct locators (just page numbers with no qualifying subentries). Authors will know their material much better than an indexer, but indexers have the skill set that allows them to review material and create relationships that make sense to an end user.

More publishers are requiring authors to create their own indexes these days. I have noticed that since this policy went into effect in the last six months, I receive many more direct calls from authors asking for help.

If you need an index, call or email Ken at Hassman’s Indexing Service; he is always happy to answer. Ken likes to talk to authors; That’s how I met him! I have learned a lot about indexing and how important it is for a book to be successful.

You can also view his blog, Hassman Indexing on blogger.