How to Add Guest Authors with Multiple Authors

By default, everyone who writes on your WordPress site has to have a user account. So to accept a guest author post, you need to create a user account that the author may never use.

One way around this is the Multiple Authors plugin.

This page has both a video and a text guide showing how to create guest authors.

Video guide

Text guide

• After installing Multiple Authors, to go the “Authors” link in your WordPress menu.

You’ll now see an “Authors” screen that shows everyone who has written content on your site. There are two kinds of Authors here:

• Authors who are mapped to regular WordPress users and can share all their details.
• WordPress Guest Authors who don’t need an account on your site.

From this “Authors” screen, you can create new authors for your content.

If you use the “Mapped User” option, you can connect the Author to a WordPress user. Or … and this is where we solve our problem … you can leave this blank and create a Guest Author.

Multiple Authors treats WordPress Guest Authors identically to Authors who are mapped to users. You will be able to select and display Guest Authors in exactly the same way as for mapped users.

If you want the Guest Author to have an avatar, go to the “Custom Avatar” field and upload your image:

Now when you go to create a post, you can choose the WorddPress Guest Author:

Save your content and visit the front of your site. You’ll be able to see the Guest Author profile, sitting next to real authors.

That’s it. Problem solved. You don’t need to create a useless login and password for your WordPress Guest Authors. Let the Multiple Authors add-on take care of setting up your guest posts for you.