What can enhance the value and utility of a book, especially
a Nonfiction book? A good cover, an enticing title, a blistering blurb, a
lovely outer cover, or a Bata-price tag of X99 rupees? None of these, methinks.
Index, be it subject index or name index, is in my mind the most important
enhancer of value. A good index can make you curiouser about the book you are
about to buy – and even after you have bought, it makes it worthwhile to ration
your time to it in a world of unending attention-grabbers. I have been reading
books since third standard, buying books on my own since sixth standard and
building up massive collections with moonlighting income from writing and
copywriting from my Intermediate. Having seen books galore for a lifetime, I
find it puzzling to see why so many book publishers especially in India miss the
golden rule of indexing. I can understand why indexing is not worthwhile in
Fiction books –who wants to read names you are about to get introduced in racy
narrative? But for nonfiction books, Indexing is well in order. And even in
case of a memoir or an autobiography, one can introduce a subject index if no
name index is desirable in the eyes of the author.
For busy folks and executives who thumb through many titles
of professional interest, from architecture to markets, from bitcoins to
espionage – an index can be a life-saver besides being a time-saver. Yet, I
find that Index is amiss in the multitude of books that are coming out of
India, by Indians and by Indian/Global publishers. It tells me that there is
some uneasy reluctance or sheer laziness by both the authors and publishers
about indexing the books. Let me give some concrete examples of why a good
index can ensnare a browser of books at a bookstore to buy the book. Look at
some of the books released in Non-fiction category recently. James Crabtree’s “Billionaire
Raj”, Monika Halan’s “Let’s Talk Money”, Rasheed Kidwai’s “Ballot: Ten Episodes
that have shaped India’s Democracy”. Only one book by James Crabtree carries an
Index Page. The book is actually rotten in content, and rubbished by the
reviewers but the index page has references to Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan
Reddy, and an entire chapter on Andhra Industrialists. It becomes easy to cite
the book and quote anecdotes and insights from the book when you have an index
which runs to half-a-dozen pages. Remember, Index for a book also means respect
for reader’s time and hence, professionalism. You may have reasons for not
including an index – when you feel the contents are explosive and may lead to a
lot of backlash and defamation suits, but those are exceptions like a Lewinsky
report or a Rajneesh Chronicle.
Seymour M Hersh, a reporter par excellence just released his
book of memoirs. Lovely book but sans Index. On the contrary, a book of memoirs
by AnandBazar Patrika’s impeccable reporter Suman Chattopadhyay - “My Date With
History” is intricately indexed and makes you want to read fast and furious.
What stumps me is that even global imprint publishers like Harper Collins and
Penguin skip an Index when it comes to books by Indian writers. Take the case
of the riveting book by a career intelligence officer Vikram Sood’s latest book
on Insights on Espionage called “The Unending Games”. The book reads like a
John Le Carre or Tom Clancy book full of irreverent digs into the world of
spies from the Mossads to the KGBs of the world. But alas! No index! Giving an
index means not just a big thumbs up to the visibility of the contents of the
book but also aspiration to make it a global bestseller – to be lapped up by
millions of readers outside the Himalayas. From what little I understand, most
times, the decision to have an index page is either that of the author or both
the author and the publisher. For the author, the reluctance comes not from shyness
to put the referenced names in the Index page, but some contribution that is
coming in as royalty from the publishers gets deducted from the author to the
extent an Index is done. For example there are professional indexers and
indexing software which cost a bomb and unless the author does the job herself
or himself, the publisher may think it is an extra line item to the litany of
expensing like marketing, promotion events of the book. A typical contribution
from the author for indexing the book comes to $1000. So, one understands why
there is a reluctance from Indian writers to index their works of non-fiction.
But as much as you buy a good index service from professional software, nothing
comes closer to having a good one than having the job done by the author
herself – because the author (and the publisher) know best what is worth
indexing and referencing. Cindex, Sky or Macrex are good index programs but
despite that if one doesn’t know what to highlight in a book, even the best of
such programs can hamper the credibility of a book, if the index is poorly
done. Since I have a lot of publishing friends and writers in my feed, I wanted
to highlight this aspect which is grossly under-exploited in the overall
marketing and promotion of books. The next time you see a good book of
non-fiction, remember to look up if it has an Index page after the
acknowledgements page. If the publisher is serious about reaching a global
audience for the book, chances are eight out of ten that there is a good index
page in the book. Having an Index Page, sells a book. In this age of #hashtags
and #keywordsearches. I rest my case.
#Indexing #IndexPage #BookSummary #BestsellerBooks
#BookPublishing #Publishing #BookMarketing #GlobalmarketingofBooks #Booksellers
#Authors #Publishers #IndianPublishers #Nonfiction #Fiction
#HowToMarketBooksUsingIndex #Citations #BookBlurbs #ReferencingBooks
#BookIndexing #IndexingSoftware #AuthorsAndWriters #IndianPublishing
