Victoria George
Professional Book Indexing Services
the humanities, law, and more
I am a member of both the American Society for Indexing and the British Society of Indexers. I am especially qualified to index in architecture, history of art and design, religion, philosophy, history, and law. Recent Indexes completed include a history of the US military industrial complex and a history of immigration policy in Brazil. Publishing houses I have worked with include Cambridge University Press, MIT Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, Pindar Press, Tufts University Press, Manchester University Press, Lund Humphries, and a number of others. I am well acquainted with embedded indexing as well as traditional back-of-the book indexes and I am happy to tackle rush assignments. I always meet deadlines.
About Victoria
I have indexed informally since 2012 and full-time since 2020. I completed the coursework for the Society of Indexers (UK) course in 2021.
I conceived of a career in indexing when I was asked by my publisher to index my own book. I wasn’t expecting to have to do this but discovered I enjoyed the process thoroughly, although now, with formal training, I would not now recommend that authors index their own books! For me, indexing provides the right mix of intellectual stimulation and personal flexibility.
Before indexing I was a full-time scholar and so am accustomed to detailed scholarly analysis. I am a former paralegal and trained art and architecture historian–and have published in that field–but as an indexer I am a generalist with a wide range of interests who welcomes projects in many subject areas. These factors, combined with my indexing training, make me competent and thorough no matter what the subject. I bring exceptional credentials to indexing with deep experience in the humanities and law.
Recent testimonials relating to my work:
“Victoria George created a precise and capacious index for our book. These qualities are significant for a book made up of 10 different essays in history, anthropology, literature, art and art history. With Spanish, French, and Italian words throughout, precision was all the more crucial. Victoria George caught mistakes in the text that no multi-lingual spell-check can. In the ninth hour of proofing, she also went above and beyond the standard work to complete the indexing in impeccable style.”
— Alex Roland, author of Delta of Power, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021.
“Victoria George indexed for me a short but dense book on the history of the military-industrial complex. The manuscript posed challenges on several levels: the esoteric nature of the topic, the wealth of confusing acronyms, the catalog of government agencies and programs, the complexity of the analysis, and the density of the prose. She handled all with grace, good humor, deference to authorial prerogatives, and willingness to understand and present the contents as I saw them. She brought to the undertaking a thorough mastery of the craft of indexing, easy familiarity with the protocols dictated by my publisher, and an admirable sense of humor. She is fastidious in her professionalism, patient in her manner, and tireless in her pursuit of perfection. She is, in short, a practically perfect indexer.”
— Helen Solterer and Vincent Joos, eds., Migrants shaping Europe, past and present, Manchester University Press, 2022
“I discovered Victoria while desperately searching for someone to index a fairly complex book on a ridiculously short deadline. Working with speed and skill, she turned the index around quickly and provided a thorough, professional, and useful product. I would not hesitate to use her services again.”
— Michael Dobson, publisher, The Last of the Bengal Princes, Timespinner Press, 2021.
“Victoria was an absolute pleasure to work with. Professional and efficient with a keen eye for detail—we would highly recommend her services to anyone looking for an index for their manuscript.”
— Sean Gray (Memorial University, Canada) and Archon Fung (Harvard University, USA), Editors, Empowering Affected Interests: Democratic Inclusion in a Globalized World
“Victoria George designed the index for my book with painstaking attention to detail and great consideration toward the production calendar. Although this was a particularly long manuscript heavy with names and terms in numerous languages, Victoria took to it with a trained eye, strong dedication, and intellectual stamina. Working with her has been a real pleasure, especially because she made time to explain decisions, discuss entries, and inquire about preferences, making this a very instructive experience for me in the process. Through it all, Victoria's careful and caring approach testified to her mastery of indexing not as a task, but as a craft. I can only highly recommend her.”
— José Juan Pérez Meléndez, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of California, Davis, Peopling for Profit in Imperial Brazil: Directed Migrations and the Business of Nineteenth-Century Colonization, published by Cambridge University Press, 2024
“...thanks again for your good work, and under such time pressure. It has been a pleasure.”
— Marianne Mason, PhD, Associate Professor and James Madison University, The Discourse of Police Interviews (2020, University of Chicago Press), Police Interrogation, Language, and the Law: The Invocation Game (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press)