Indexing and Proofreading
Jo Penning
I have indexed many books since becoming accredited as a professional indexer in 2015 – and an Advanced Professional Member of the Society of Indexers in 2017. These have included both academic texts and those written for the general reader. The subject areas have mostly been in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
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Some other subject areas have been indexed too and I am happy to consider most texts where these are intended for the general reader (see my entry in the Directory of the Society of Indexers for further details of subjects indexed).
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I have worked on many children’s information books – both indexing and proofreading them. Having previously worked as an allied health professional with children I enjoy finding ways to make information accessible to them in a straightforward and meaningful way.
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I use SKY Professional, which is a specialist indexing software, to create and edit the index which is then sent to the publisher or author in a Word file (or other file format). Both stand-alone and embedded indexes are offered.
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Fees
Each project is individual and the fee can be negotiated, but, in general I base my quotes on the Society of Indexers' recommended rates.
Factors which are taken into consideration include the complexity of the text, and the time available to complete the indexing. If you would like to discuss a project do please get in touch with a few details.
Some recent examples of back-of-the-book indexes are provided below.
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Published indexes (recent examples)
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Art and art history
Cseh-Varga, Katalin The Hungarian Avant-Garde and Socialism: The Art of the Second Public Sphere, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022. Sample index
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art (5th ed.), Thames & Hudson, 2024.
Putnam, EL The Maternal, Digital Subjectivity, and the Aesthetics of Interruption, Bloomsbury, 2022.
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Health, wellbeing and psychology
Bullmore, Edward The Divided Mind: Uncovering psychiatry's dark past - and reimagining its future, New River Books, 2025.
De Syllas, Justin Dr Williamson, Dr Pearse & the Pioneer Health Centre: The Rise and Fall of the Peckham Experiment, Troubador, 2025.
Di Malta, Gina et al (eds) The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling, 3rd edition, Bloomsbury, 2024.
Spencer, Robert C. Healthcare Infection Society: Forty years and counting, Healthcare Infection Society, 2022.
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Education and parenting
Smith, Emma L. 100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths, Troubador, 2021.
Stroud, Dick The Secondary Mod: Much maligned or monstrous mistake?, Self-published: Amazon, 2021. Sample index
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Literary studies
Farrell, Maureen A. and Davis, Robert A. (eds) International Companion to Scottish Children's Literature, Association for Scottish Literature (ASL), 2024.
Jussawalla, Feroza and Omran, Doaa (eds) Muslim Women’s Writing from across South and Southeast Asia, Routledge, 2022.
Mead, Philip and Vickery, Ann (eds) The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 2025.
Mooney, Jennifer Feminist Discourse in Irish Literature: Gender and Power in Louise O’Neill’s Young Adult Fiction, Routledge, 2022. Sample index
Wampole, C. and Childs, J. (eds) The Cambridge History of the American Essay, Cambridge University Press, 2023.
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Film and media studies
Maurice, Alice (ed) Faces on Screen, New Approaches, Edinburgh University Press, 2022. Sample index
Orgeret, K. S. (ed) Insights on Peace and Conflict Reporting, Routledge, 2021.
Sorensen, Lars-Martin and Tybjerg, Casper Danish and German Silent Cinema, Edinburgh University Press, 2023.
Walden, Steven J. Dracula's Cinematic Psychohistory, McFarland, 2025.
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Cultural studies
Cummins, Antony The Book of Bushido: The Complete Guide to Real Samurai Chivalry, Watkins Publishing, 2021.
Nita, Maria and Kidwell, Jeremy H. (eds) Festival Cultures, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
Pradines, Stéphane and Topan, Farouk (eds) Muslim Cultures of the Indian Ocean: Diversity and Pluralism, Past and Present,
Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
Weird Walk Weird Walk: Wanderings and Wonderings through the British Ritual Year, Watkins Publishing, 2023.
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History
Bond, Emma and Morris, Michael Scotland’s Transnational Heritage: Legacies of Empire, Trade and Slavery, Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
Murphy, Sherra “The First National Museum” : Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century, Cork University
Press, 2021.
Shonk, Kenneth Ireland’s New Traditionalists, Fianna Fáil republicanism and gender, 1926–1938, Cork University Press, 2021.
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Politics and international issues
Frische, Johannes Youth between Participation and Exclusion: Urban Inequality, Informality and Precarity in Post-revolutionary Tunisia, Brill, 2025.
Katzenstein, Peter J. Entanglements in World Politics: The Power of Uncertainty, Cambridge University Press, 2025.
Topak et al New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
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Cookery, food and nutrition
Bailey, Christine Five Weeks to Gut Health, Watkins Publishing, 2025.
Balaam, Catherine and Dowding, Charles No Dig Cookbook, Charles Dowding Ltd., 2022.