Books by Johnnies is a growing database archiving books written by St. John’s College faculty and alumni. Our definition of a book is: a physical book, a dramatic work such as a play or screenplay, an e-book, or an audio book.

Additionally,

1. If a book meets the above criteria, it must also have a publisher (including self-publishing) or a producer; for example, in the case of a play or screenplay, they can either be published as physical or digital works or produced as an onstage play or film; if the play or screenplay has only been produced, the author must provide cover art that can work for the Books by Johnnies website.
2. If a book meets the above criteria, it must also exist in a way that is accessible to others via purchasing or downloading unless it has gone out of print due to the passage of time or the publisher/producer has gone out of business or closed its distribution services. The author must still provide cover artwork for use on the site.
3. If a book is a collection of work, the following must apply: A collection of works such as essays, articles, short stories, short plays, translations, speeches, or poetry, etc. must all be by the same submitting author. For example, if a collection of essays has 25 authors and one is by a Johnnie, it does not meet the criteria—unless the collection is edited by a Johnnie, in which case it qualifies under the editor category.

Will Books by Johnnies accept other types of publications?

Currently, we are only accepting books as defined by the criteria stated above. We will use the Books By Johnnies 2024 launch and the following year to test its success across multiple metrics. If we determine that it is manageable for us to expand the scope of work while maintaining the platform’s high quality and ongoing author support, we will do so.