The publishing process can be long and drawn out. The current pandemic situation has caused a number of publishers to revise their publication schedules and push back publication dates for some titles. Various reasons such as delays in the editorial process, delays in print production, and lack of opportunities for promoting titles have all been suggested, among others.

Indexing usually happens right near the end of the publication schedule. If your non-fiction book has been pushed back for any reason, please think about your indexer for a moment.

If you have already contracted an indexer – please let them know about the delay and keep them updated as you get news from your publisher. We can usually juggle schedules a bit, but we aren’t mind readers. Many indexers will already be keeping in touch with their clients because that’s a professional thing to do, so please reply, even if you have no news, and contact your indexer if you haven’t heard from them. If a gap opens up in our schedule we might need to fill it with other work or we might need to contact other clients who were in the spot you now want if your title is pushed back.

If you haven’t already contracted an indexer – get one on board, even if it seems like it is going to be a long time until they need to work on your index. Having an idea of a schedule that stretches up to 3 or 4 months (or more) into the future helps us plan our workload and our opportunities for doing other things. Please don’t leave it too late, we would hate to turn your book down because we don’t have time in our schedules.