Indexer

Organizer of information and avid reader, an Indexer creates indexes for books and other documents so readers can find the info they want within seconds. As an Indexer, you create the road maps that guide people through a book: Halloween crafts on page 12, Easter decorations on 43.

The majority of your workday as an Indexer is devoted to reading the material you need to index. Each page includes key words and phrases a reader may need to look up. Jotting these down helps you build a rough draft of your finished product.

Once you’ve read the book so many times you could recite it from memory, you start compiling all your information into a computer program. No doubt you’ll need to add and delete new info as you go, but eventually, you’ll have a well-formed and thorough index.

Another aspect of indexing, aside from listing data, is sorting it. A craft book may index projects by theme, while a cookbook sorts its recipes by difficulty level or meal type. You suggest the most sensible groups for the book, and determine which items go into each. Understanding your readers is crucial to putting the information where they can actually find it.

A few more checks to see that you’ve covered all the important terms, and you’re ready for publication. Soon, readers the world over will be flipping pages with the guidance of your carefully crafted index.