People & Contributors

Manage authors, editors, and other contributors in Pubblish.

Understanding People vs Contributors

Pubblish separates legal entities from public personas:

A Person represents the real human being or organization:

  • Legal name - Their actual name for contracts
  • Address - Where they are based
  • Contact methods - Email, phone, website
  • Identifiers - ISNI, ORCID, VIAF

One person = one record

Think of this as the “business” side - who you communicate with, who signs contracts.

Contributor (Public Persona)

A Contributor is how they appear to the public:

  • Pen name - How they’re credited on books
  • Biography - Author bio for book backs
  • Photo - Author headshot

One person can have multiple contributors

Think of this as the “marketing” side - what readers see.

Why Separate Them?

Example: J.K. Rowling

Person Record: - Legal Name: “Joanne Rowling” - Address: [actual address]

Contributor Records: 1. “J.K. Rowling” - Bio: “Author of Harry Potter series…”

  1. “Robert Galbraith”
  2. Bio: “Mystery author…”

Both contributor personas link to the same person, but have different public identities.

Managing People

Creating a Person

  1. Navigate to People in the sidebar
  2. Click New Person
  3. Fill in the information:

Basic Info: - Legal name (required) - Friendly name (optional - for casual reference) - Sort name (auto-generated, e.g., “Smith, John”)

Address: - Street address - City - State/County - Postcode - Country

Additional: - Notes - internal notes about this person - Deceased status - if applicable

Person Types

People can be: - Individual - A natural person - Organization - A company or institution - Collective - A group or collaboration - AI Agent - AI-generated content creator

Contact Methods

Add multiple ways to reach this person:

Contact Types: - Email (primary, secondary) - Phone (mobile, home, work) - Website (personal, professional) - Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) - Messaging (WhatsApp, Signal, etc.)

To Add: 1. On the person page, find the Contact Methods section 2. Click Add Contact 3. Select type 4. Enter value 5. Mark as primary if it’s the preferred method

Name Identifiers

Link to standard identifier databases:

  • ISNI - International Standard Name Identifier
  • ORCID - Open Researcher and Contributor ID
  • VIAF - Virtual International Authority File
  • Wikidata - Wikidata entity ID

Managing Contributors

Creating a Contributor

  1. Navigate to Contributors (under People)
  2. Click New Contributor
  3. Link to a person (select existing or create new)
  4. Fill in public information:

Public Identity: - Pen name (how they’re credited) - Sort name (for alphabetization) - Bibliographic name (e.g., “Twain, Mark” for citations)

Biography: - Short bio (50-150 words for back covers) - Full bio (extended version)

Linking Contributors to Titles

When adding a contributor to a title:

  1. On the title page, go to the Contributors section
  2. Search for or add a contributor
  3. Choose their role for this title:
  4. Author
  5. Editor
  6. Translator
  7. Illustrator
  8. Narrator (for audiobooks)
  9. Introduction By
  10. And many more ONIX role codes
  11. Set sequence number (1 = primary, 2 = secondary, etc.)

Multiple Roles

A contributor can have different roles on different titles:

Example: - Title 1: “Jane Smith” as Author - Title 2: “Jane Smith” as Editor - Title 3: “Jane Smith” as Author AND Illustrator

The role is set per title, not globally.

Use Cases

Simple Self-Publisher

You are the author:

  1. Create a Person record for yourself
  2. Create a Contributor record for your pen name
  3. Link contributor to titles as “Author”

Publisher with Multiple Authors

You publish other authors:

  1. Create a Person record for each author
  2. Create a Contributor record for each
  3. Link contributors to their titles

Author with Multiple Pen Names

One author, multiple genres:

  1. Create one Person record
  2. Create multiple Contributor records:
  3. “Romance Name” for romance novels
  4. “Mystery Name” for thrillers
  5. Link each contributor to appropriate titles

Different bios, different branding, same person.

Estates and Deceased Authors

Publishing works by deceased author:

  1. Create Person record:
  2. Legal Name: “Estate of [Author Name]”
  3. Mark as deceased
  4. Create Contributor record with the author’s name
  5. Link to titles

Best Practices

Person Records

Do: - Use full legal names - Keep addresses current - Add multiple contact methods

Don’t: - Use pen names in legal name field - Forget to update contact info

Contributor Records

Do: - Write compelling author bios (third person) - Use consistent pen name spelling - Update bios as careers develop

Don’t: - Write bios in first person - Include outdated achievements

Role Assignment

Do: - Credit everyone who contributed - Set sequence numbers clearly (1, 2, 3…) - Use appropriate role codes

Don’t: - Forget translators, illustrators, editors - List everyone as “Author” regardless of role

Common Scenarios

Multiple Authors on One Title

For co-authored books:

  1. Add first author, set sequence = 1
  2. Add second author, set sequence = 2
  3. Add third author, set sequence = 3

Credits appear in sequence order.

Editors and Other Roles

Don’t forget non-author contributors:

  • Editor - Edited the text
  • Translator - Translated from another language
  • Illustrator - Created artwork
  • Introduction By - Wrote introduction
  • Narrator - Audiobook performer

Proper credits matter for professional courtesy, copyright attribution, and industry standards.