Back-of-the-Book Indexing
Are you thinking of indexing your own book?
Before I tell you about my indexing services, I’ll give you at three good reasons why hiring any professional book indexer is your best option.
Hiring an indexer will cost you less money
Hiring other people to work for you is the smart thing to do. If you plan to use a IRS Form Schedule C (sole proprietor business) or IRS Form Schedule E (rents and royalties) to report the income you receive from your book, you can deduct the expenses of writing your book and creating an index on line 17 on C or line 10 on E.
Here’s the thing about the IRS. They tax everyone for the work they do, but the IRS only gives tax deductions for work done for someone else. So, if you hire an indexer, you can take a tax deduction on Schedule C or Schedule E. But if you do you the index yourself, you cannot deduct the expense (i.e., the cost of the total hours it takes) for your own labor.
Hiring an indexer will save you time
Not only that! Indexers are professionals who learn from experience how to index quickly. Here’s what one of my (very intelligent) clients wrote to me after I finished his index, “All in all, I’d say you did a heckofajob. You gave me a better index than I could possibly have made, and you did it in under the year-and-a-half it would have taken me. Thanks again. Your check is in the mail.”
And by the time you get to the index, you really want your book to be done! Every day your book isn’t out there being sold, it is losing sales. And new books that will compete with yours are being published every minute by other authors.
Hiring an indexer will let you get you sleep you’ll badly need
Some online sites for writers promise you that a book can be writing in 90, 30 or even 3 days. That’s certainly true for some free PDF books intended to promote a product or service. But it’s equally not true for traditional printed books, ebooks, and audiobooks.
Most of my clients tell me it took them around five years just to write their books. And when they’re done writing they realize they also need to market their book! Wouldn’t you really prefer to take a break and catch up on your sleep before you begin promoting your book?
If you are interested in Wordmaps Indexing Services call me today for a free consultation. 415-462-1844.
Or go to About Wordmaps Indexing Services to learn more about how I work with indexing clients. For a list of my clients click here, and to see the books I’ve indexed, click here.