Indexing books provides authors and professional indexers alike a much-needed guide to index preparation that is thorough, accessible, well organized, and up-to-date. Nancy C. Mulvany builds on various style guides - including The Chicago Manual of Style`s extensive chapter on indexing - but goes beyond mechanics with in-depth discussions of analysis and editorial judgment calls, such as deciding what is and what is not indexable and establishing the structure of entries. Other topics covered include the concept of indexing and how it fits into the publishing process; deciding when to prepare one`s own index and when to hire a professional; deciphering publishers` indexing guidelines; and choosing appropriate software. Particularly helpful is Mulvany`s evaluation of embedded and dedicated indexing software, a guide to what works best for which tasks. Other useful features are appendixes providing a worksheet for general index specifications, the table of ASCII characters, tables of commonly used generic characters, and a list of additional resources. The most extensive and up-to-date reference available, this will become the standard indexing guide for authors, technical writers, editors, beginning and advanced professional indexers, and all others involved in writing and publishing nonfiction books.