What is BookFellows?

BookFellows is a new platform for creating, sharing, and experiencing biblical and literature studies. BookFellows exists to help everyday people discover meaning together through structured, collaborative study experiences.

Study Better Together

“Study Better Together” - This tagline captures the essence of BookFellows: making collaborative learning and sharing easier and more meaningful for everyone.

Why BookFellows Exists

Our Challenge

Structured study of the Bible, literature, self-help books, and other texts helps people discover deeper insights, apply wisdom to daily life, and forge bonds with others through ongoing conversations.

Yet, if you’re a pastor, educator, book club leader, author, or just someone guiding a study with friends, wrangling all the moving parts can be overwhelming. Common struggles include:

Finding a study that aligns with your group’s interests and challenges
Locating one that matches your schedule while not sacrificing proper pacing
Crafting and sharing your own custom study that delivers the experience you want — especially when you are new to the subject
Drafting, formatting, and distributing materials via email, printouts, and various scattered apps
Coordinating sessions, from sending invites to assigning facilitators and handling RSVPs
Monitoring who’s engaging, what insights are emerging, and how understanding is evolving

Alternatively, if you’re just a seeker looking for a study on a topic you care about—and hoping to connect with others, common hurdles include:

Discovering a study that matches your interests and timing
Suddenly realising that the only way to get the study you really want is to create it yourself
Linking up with an appropriate group, whether in-person or online

The bottom line: These studies can be rewarding, but traditional methods make the process too difficult and often out of reach. We think it’s just too hard.

BookFellows aims to change that.

Our Purpose

To help everyday people discover meaning together, one study at a time.

This is the core “why” behind BookFellows—its fundamental reason for existing. We believe that studying biblical and literary texts together should be accessible, meaningful, and transformative. No one should be blocked from this enriching experience because the tools and processes are too complex or cumbersome.

Our Mission

To make it easier for every individual and group to create, share, manage and experience biblical and literature studies.

This mission focuses on the present and guides everything we build. BookFellows provides the tools, platform, and community tools that make structured study achievable for everyone—whether you’re participating in a study, creating one, managing a class, leading class discussions, or managing a group.

Our Vision

A global platform where anyone can easily find people and assets to study timeless truths and new ideas.

Looking 5-10 years ahead, we envision BookFellows as the go-to place where:

Studies on any biblical or literary topic are readily available to all
The process for creating and sharing high-quality studies is effortless
Communities of learners form naturally around shared interests
Worldwide connections are enabled while not losing the value of in-person fellowship

What BookFellows Offers

For Study Participants

As a member of BookFellows, you can:

Study biblical texts and literature at your own pace
Join classes with others or study independently (solo mode)
Answer questions and make personal notes
Share insights with others when you choose
Access studies from any device
Track your progress through studies

For Group Leaders and Managers

Build and nurture learning communities:

Create groups around shared interests or affiliations
Manage group membership and roles
Curate collections of studies for your community
Enable study discovery through group membership
Provide group codes for easy joining

For Class Leaders and Managers

Organize and oversee collaborative study experiences:

Create classes for specific studies
Invite members and assign roles (Member or Leader)
Monitor class participation and engagement
Configure class settings and capacity
Lead class discussions in person or on-line
Support and encourage class members throughout the study

For Study Creators

Author and publish original study content:

Design complete studies with lessons and questions
Use AI-powered tools (StudyBot) to generate great first drafts
Add images, descriptions, and supplementary materials
Edit and refine study lessons, questions in preparation for release
Release studies to the groups you belong to
View and learn from shared answers from study participants
Track how your studies are being accessed and experienced

How BookFellows Works

Groups: Your Gateway to Studies

Groups are longer-term communities organized around an affinity, whether it’s a church, organization, book club, or interest area. When you join a group, you gain access to all studies released to that group through the Library.

Groups serve as the primary mechanism for study discovery and access, connecting members with content relevant to their interests and organisations they belong to.

The Library: Discovering Studies

The Library is where you browse and discover studies available to you based on the groups you’ve joined. Each study includes:

Title, description, edition, creator and cover image
Complete lesson structure
Preview of lesson content and questions

From the Library, you can start a solo study or start a class to study with others.

Classes: Studying Together

Classes are temporary collaborations where people gather to experience a single study together. Think of it like a school class—“English 101 with Mrs. Jones”—a focused, time-bound learning experience.

A class is based on one specific study and includes:

A class manager who oversees operations
Participants with assigned roles (Leader or Member) The leader and manager above are often the same person
Shared access to the same study content
Optional answer sharing with varying privacy levels

Study Instances: Your Personal Journey

When you engage with a study—whether solo or in a class—BookFellows creates a complete, immutable copy that belongs only to you. This is your Study Instance.

Your study instance tracks:

Your current position (lesson and question)
All your answers and notes
Your completion status
Your sharing preferences
Your associated class and role

This means your study experience is personal and preserved, even if the original study changes or you switch classes.

Study Structure: Simple and Flexible

Each study instance consists of lessons—individual topics usually based on a cadence like daily or weekly sessions. Within each lesson, you’ll find two types of lesson items:

Questions for reflection and discussion:

Numbered for easy reference
Space for your personal answers
Option to share with class members
Private notes section
Scripture passage references

Headings for organization:

Section dividers and context
Instructions and explanations
Scripture passage references

BookFellows enables collaborative learning while respecting privacy. You control what you share and with whom:

Privacy Levels:

None: Keep answers completely private
Anonymous: Share answers without your name
Full: Share answers with your profile attribution

Sharing Targets:

Class Members: Fellow participants in your class
Class Leaders: Those guiding the study
Study Creator: The person who built and released the study

This flexibility allows you to learn from others’ perspectives while maintaining the level of privacy you’re comfortable with.

The BookFellows Philosophy

Empowering Every Role

BookFellows is designed so any member can fill multiple roles simultaneously. You might be:

Participating in a study someone else created
Managing a class where you’re also the class leader and facilitating discussions
Creating your own study for future use
Managing a group that curates content

We believe everyone has something to contribute, whether it’s insights as a participant, leadership as a facilitator, creativity as an author, or organisational skills as a manager.

Balancing Structure and Flexibility

Studies in BookFellows follow a structured format—lessons containing questions and headings—because structure helps learning. But within that framework, there’s tremendous flexibility:

Study alone or with others
Switch between solo and class participation
Share as much or as little as you want
Progress at your own pace
Choose from diverse content

Making the Complex Simpler

Behind the scenes, BookFellows handles complex workflows: managing study versions, coordinating class membership, tracking progress, enabling sharing with privacy controls, and more. But for you, it should feel straightforward and intuitive.

Our goal is to remove the friction so you can focus on what matters: engaging with meaningful content and connecting with others.

Beyond the Platform

Studies Extend Off-Platform

While BookFellows provides the platform for study materials and answer tracking, we recognize that the richest learning often happens off-platform:

In-person discussion groups
Online video calls
Coffee shop conversations
Walking and talking together

BookFellows gives you the structure, content, and tools—but the depth of community and learning happens in these face-to-face (or screen-to-screen) interactions.

Supporting Real Communities

BookFellows doesn’t try to be everything. We’re not a video conferencing tool, a social network, or a full learning management system. Instead, we focus on what we do best: making it easy to create, share, and experience structured studies.

We integrate with your existing community structures—whether that’s your church, book club, online forum, or friend group—by providing the study infrastructure they need.

Summing Up

BookFellows exists because providing a high-quality structured study shouldn’t be hard. Whether you’re exploring ancient wisdom, contemporary literature, or practical self-help, you shouldn’t be blocked by:

Lack of good content from limited sources
Inability to find others who care
Overwhelming complexity in organizing
Tools that work against rather than for you

We’re building a new platform where the focus is on learning, growing, and connecting—where the technology gets out of the way and lets meaningful study and connection happen.

Study Better Together isn’t just a tagline. It’s a commitment to making collaborative learning accessible, meaningful, and transformative for everyone.

Next Steps

Choose your path forward:

Quick Start Get up and running in minutes with our quick start guide

Join BookFellows Create your account and get started with studies

Need help? Contact support at rich@bookfellows.net