By default, everyone who writes on your WordPress site has to have a user account. With the PublishPress Authors plugin, it is possible to create “Guest Authors” who do not have a user account.
This Guest Authors is useful if you do not want to give a WordPress account to people, even if you publish your content.
How to Enable the Guest Author Feature #
It is possible to enable or disable the Guest Authors feature. If this feature is disabled, every “Author” in the PublishPress Authors plugin must be connected to a WordPress user account.
To configure this setting, go to “Authors”, then “Settings” in your WordPress admin menu. Click the “Guest Authors” tab.

Adding Guest Authors #
- After installing PublishPress Authors, to go the “Authors” link in your WordPress menu.
You can add two kinds of Authors here:
- Authors who are mapped to regular WordPress users and can share all their details.
- 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 you can leave this blank and create a Guest Author.
- Mapped User: Leave this blank.
- Name: Enter the Author name.

PublishPress Authors treats 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.
Now when you go to create a post, you can choose the 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 the profile for actual users on your site.