What a book index costs

How indexers charge, and the published rates

The American Society for Indexing (ASI) says indexers "may charge for their work on a per-page or per-index-entry basis; or they may charge by the hour," and that the fee should match the type of material and the type of index (ASI, Working With Freelance Indexers). Dense or technical pages, and work squeezed into evenings or weekends, cost more. These are the public figures we could find:

Checked October 25, 2026. We could not find a published US per-entry rate, so none is shown. If an indexer quotes per entry, ask for an estimate of the entry count and convert it to a total before you compare.

An "indexable page" is a page of the book the indexer will actually work through: usually the main text, without blank pages, the bibliography or, unless you ask, the front matter. ASI suggests telling the indexer exactly what to cover, whether notes and tables are included, and how much space the index can take.

What 200 and 300 pages cost

The same book can be priced four ways. Here they are side by side, using this site's assumption of 360 words on a 6 x 9 inch page for the per-word line.

Our arithmetic from the rates above. Pounds are left unconverted because the exchange rate moves.

The per-page quotes from working indexers sit at the low end, and the hourly route at the high end. That spread is the main reason to ask for a fixed quote on your actual page proofs, which the Society of Indexers also recommends: an indexer should ideally see proofs or sample pages before agreeing a fee.

Does your book need an index?

Reedsy's guide to indexes says they matter most for academic and reference works, that libraries are unlikely to shelve academic books without one, and that novels rarely need one because they are read straight through (Reedsy, What Is an Index in a Book?, updated October 15, 2025). A 2017 post on the Alliance of Independent Authors blog names biographies, history books and guidebooks as books that should have one.

For a self-funded nonfiction author, here is a fair test:

• Likely yes: a how-to or reference book readers return to; a history or biography full of names, places and dates; a book aimed at libraries, courses or professional readers.
• Likely no: a short narrative memoir; a 30,000-word book meant to be read once, in order; a book whose detailed table of contents already does the job.

If you are publishing with a traditional or university press, the contract decides. Ohio State University Press says authors "can compose the index themselves or pay someone to do the work" (author FAQ), and many presses work the same way, so the fee often comes out of the author's pocket or royalties even there.

When indexing happens, and how long it takes

A traditional index is made from final page proofs, because it points to page numbers. That fixes its place in the order of work:

1. Editing and proofreading of the manuscript are done.
2. The book is laid out and the designer issues page proofs.
3. The proofreader and the indexer work from the same proofs at the same time.
4. The index is laid out, checked, and the files go to print.

Publishers budget a few weeks for step 3. The University of Virginia Press allows "three weeks for you to proofread, four weeks if you are also finalizing the index" (UVA Press proof and index guidelines). Ohio State wants the index one week after first-proof corrections are due. The Reedsy indexer above lists a standard turnaround of two to three weeks.

In working hours, ASI's rule of thumb is 5 to 10 pages an hour for fairly straightforward text, and the EFA survey reports 6 to 8. Reedsy's guide cites Wiley's estimate of 25 to 37.5 hours for a 250-page book and Harvard University Press's 40 to 50 hours. ASI's practical advice: line up an indexer before the page proofs come back, because good indexers are booked ahead.

The costly mistake is changing text after indexing starts. UVA Press warns that even a small insertion "may even cause repaging (which in turn creates problems with page numbers cited in the index)." ASI says handling changes to text and pagination "can be very time-consuming for the indexer," which you will pay for.

What the index adds to layout and printing

An index is also pages. Penn State University Press's guidelines, which the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A points readers to, give two rules of thumb: about five or six references per page of text, and an index that takes up "about 5 percent of the total number of pages" (PSU Press indexing guidelines).

For a 200-page book, that is about 10 more pages. At the EFA's layout rate of $5.00 to $7.50 a finished page (see formatting costs), setting them costs about $50 to $75. On Amazon KDP, a black-ink paperback over 110 pages costs $0.012 a page to print (KDP Paperback Printing Cost), so 10 index pages add $0.12 to every copy, or $120 per 1,000 copies. Small, but it belongs in the budget.

Embedded indexes and ebooks

An ebook reflows to fit each screen, so it has no fixed page numbers for a print index to point to. Amazon's Kindle hyperlink guidelines say that where a book says "see page 73," the words "page 73" should link to the right location. A print index carried into an ebook unchanged does not meet that standard, so you have three choices: leave the index out of the ebook, have the indexer link each entry, or use an embedded index.

An embedded index is built from codes inside the Word or InDesign file. The UK Society of Indexers explains that it can be regenerated when the format or page size changes and allows "active, hyperlinked indexes" in ebooks and PDFs. It also says embedded indexing "can be more expensive," that most specialists charge a higher rate, and that fewer indexers do it, so you need to book earlier (What is embedded indexing?, October 22, 2025). The EFA's eBook indexing row, $45 to $62.50 an hour, is a guide to hourly rates for this work.

Doing it yourself

Opinions differ. Penn State's guidelines tell authors "You as author are the best-qualified person to prepare the index." Reedsy's guide says plainly to work with a professional and warns that "auto-generated indexes are very poor substitutes for a real index." The honest middle: an author can make a useful index for a modest book with care and a good tool, but it takes days, not hours, and it lands in the busiest week of production.

Prices from each publisher's own page, checked October 25, 2026.

If you do it yourself, follow a publisher's guide such as Penn State's: index ideas that are discussed, not every passing mention; use nouns and phrases readers would look up; split any entry with more than six page numbers into subentries; and proofread the finished index against the pages.

Mistakes that cost money

• Comparing per-page quotes with different pages. The EFA's page is 250 words; an indexer's page is a typeset page. Convert both to a total.
• Indexing before the text is final. Late edits move page numbers and turn a fixed fee into extra hours.
• Booking the indexer when the proofs arrive. Book when you book layout, and give the indexer the proof date.
• Carrying the print index into the ebook unchanged. Its page numbers mean nothing on a reflowable screen.
• Leaving the index pages out of the print budget. About 5 percent more pages is a cost on every copy.

Put your page count into the calculator to see layout and print costs with the index pages included, then add the indexer's quote. Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells publishing with "professional editing and design" from $29,000, or $4,833 a month for 6 months (scribemedia.com/pricing); its pricing page does not mention indexing, so ask if your book needs one. If an index is the only thing you need, a freelance indexer at the rates above is the better fit.