Services: Indexing and other

Indexing: For material that’s final. Indexing is both an art and a craft, and not just compiling a list of names, places, and facts. I read the publication and prepare an alphabetical list of terms and concepts covered in the text; I select, group, and consolidate page references under main headings and subheadings, and prepare cross references to guide your readers to just what they’re looking for. An index is vital for any nonfiction book.

Fact-checking and research: If you need facts verified, references checked or located, or online research done, I can do so at an hourly rate. For those interested in the art of fact-checking, see the “Mistrust and Verify” tab on the left of the site.

Scanning and digitizing: I have a sheet-fed duplex scanner and can scan books or other printed material, converting them to PDFs and/or text via OCR (optical character recognition). If you have material to digitize, I can help you with this. I can order books, scan them, and convert them to text or PDFs. (I ask for payment in advance for this service.) If you have a PDF with no text file available, I can convert it to text (MS Word or other file types) with the same formatting, providing either a basic cleanup or a full proofreading.