Question: I have a question and I believe you may have the answer (or may know of someone who would know!). Is there such a thing as indexing software? A writer I am working with would like to know as he will have quite an extensive index in his next book. If this does not exist, are you aware of any other modes of learning how to do this properly?
John's Answer: Some publishing software programs like Ventura Publisher and Adobe InDesign have indexing modules as part of their programs. I'm not aware of an independent indexing program at this time.
Personally, I like doing indexing by hand. That way I review my book one more time to make sure everything is okay and I can customize the index in ways no indexing program can. But if your author chooses to index on their own, they need to study the indexing section of The Chicago Manual of Style. It provides the gold standard for book publishing indexes.
