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Book and Magazine IndexingAny publication containing information of importance should have a means of accessing the information. How? The tried and true method of a back-of- the-book index. Without such an index, your readers will have no means of finding the information that they need within your publication. Computer-related Books: Web-publishing tutorials, programming books, help-authoring kits, Internet guides, and software manuals are just a few of the many types of computer- related publications that are in high demand. What makes your book better than others about the same subject? One of the most important factors is the user's ability to quickly find what she or he is looking for. Far too many computer users complain about indexes that do not contain relevant terms. Long, verbose sub-headings cause frustration as they cannot be quickly scanned. Many indexes to computer books do not effectively gather information that is scattered throughout the publication. Since many computer-related books are used as reference guides instead of being read from the beginning to end, the index is critical to the purpose of the publication. Broccoli Information Management never "computer-generates" indexes. (See our page on the indexing process at BIM.) We have experience with both using computer manuals, and writing indexes for them. Having been the "users", we can relate to their needs. We've also spent countless hours working through the psychological issues of how users search for information, designing our indexes accordingly. Using our services results in a higher quality index. This, in turn, helps in producing a computer-related publication that is of superior quality. Is the publishing deadline very tight? No problem. BIM has arranged to receive electronic files from many publishers. This allows us to get a head-start on the indexing by saving the time involved in printing and shipping of hard copy. Publishers can happily keep a couple of dollars in their pocket instead of spending it on shipping. We also do embedded indexing in either Word or FrameMaker. Technical Publications: Two words sum up indexing of technical books by Broccoli Information Management: exhaustive and specific. We recognize that nothing is more exasperating than for a reader to work on a technical problem, look through his manual for information on how to handle his dilemma, and find that the index is too confusing to use. Or perhaps it doesn't address his needs at all, despite the fact that the information is there in the book. For this reason, BIM concentrates on creating truly exhaustive, specific indexes for technical publications. At the same time, we make sure to never lead the reader to passing mention of a subject, when their is no real discussion of the topic. Such attention to detail in the index results in a more useful, quality publication. Biographies: Considering the amount of research and effort that goes into the writing of biographies, it stands to reason that careful attention should also be given to the indexing of such books. When working on biographies at Broccoli Information Management, we read through each page of the publication, extracting names and places of importance. We then compare names which may not be given in full with our library of reference sources. This allows us to always include accurate listings of individuals in the index, alphabetized correctly. Even complex European, Oriental, and Middle Eastern names are not a problem, regardless of the variety of symbols used. Publishers can thus use their time with other important aspects of their work, rather than having to fret over such details. We take care of it for you. Self-Help Books: When it comes to self-help books, the name says it all. Individuals who buy such publications are interested in improving themselves and the quality of their lives. It's of no surprise, then, that many who shop for self-help books look through the book's index before purchasing it. They want to be sure it contains the information that they need. Will they find it? Given that the publication discusses the subject that they are looking for, it is essential that the index lead the reader to where it is mentioned within the book. Although that sounds like common sense, many indexes to self-help books contain the terms used in the text, but do not list synonymous terms that the reader might have in mind. BIM makes use of various thesauri in order to include terms that the author may not have used, but that the reader may be thinking of. Such attention to the reader's thought-pattern is what makes indexes that are created by Broccoli Information Management so insightful. Magazines: Imagine a subscriber to your magazine sitting at home in front of ten years worth of copies. She is looking for information that she has read in a past issue. Naturally she doesn't remember which issue it is in. As she gets ready to comb through each issue, she thinks how helpful it would be to have a subject index to her magazine collection. In other homes thoughout the country, other subscribers think the same. The above scenario is one which is acted out far too often. Many publishers of high quality periodicals have remedied the situation, by selling cumulative indexes to their magazines. When professionally created, indexes to periodicals perform a tremendous service for subscribers, as well as make a profit for the publisher. Publishers are also seeing the value of putting their magazines online, with an intuitive, online index that works with far more precision and accuracy than would any search engine. (See our section on Web site indexing for more information on this.) Give us a call at 828-252-3107 to discuss your next indexing project or e-mail us at broccoli@bim.net . |