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

This is the legal and financial side of the relationship - who you communicate with, and 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

This is the public-facing 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

Person records hold personal data — legal name, home address, phone, personal email, private notes — so only Administrators and the workspace Owner can open or edit them. An Editor sees people as names only, in lists and pickers: no Add New Person button, no link through to a record, no Edit. See Access levels.

Contributor records are different. Every member can create and edit those.

Creating a Person

  1. Navigate to People in the sidebar
  2. Click Add 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 - County/State/Province - Postcode - Country

Additional: - Notes - internal notes about this person - Deceased status - if applicable, under More Options on the Person tab

Person Types

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

Contact Methods

Add multiple ways to reach this person:

Contact Types: - Email - Other Email (their primary email is a Person field, not a contact method - see below) - Phone (mobile, home, work) - Website - Personal Website, Company Website, Author Website - Social Media - X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon - Other - use this for anything that doesn’t fit above, such as a messaging app

To Add: 1. Open the person’s page and click Edit 2. On the Person tab, scroll to the Additional Contacts section 3. Click Add Contact 4. Choose a value in Method 5. Enter the address, number, or link in Contact

The person’s own Email and Phone fields, further up the Person tab, are their primary contact details. Additional Contacts is for everything else.

Name Identifiers

The Name Identifiers section is inside More Options on the Person tab. Click More Options to open it, then click Add Identifier.

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 Add New Contributor
  3. Link to a person — select an existing person. If they aren’t in Pubblish yet, create the person first, then come back
  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. Pubblish ships eight roles, listed alphabetically:
  4. Author
  5. Editor
  6. Foreword by
  7. Illustrator
  8. Introduction by
  9. Narrator
  10. Photographer
  11. Translator
  12. Use the up and down arrows under Order to set the credit order. These only work once the row is saved - add the contributor first, then reorder.

Need a role that is not on the list? Type it into the Role box. The dropdown offers Create new: “your role” — click it to add the role to your workspace. It is then available on every title, edition and manuscript.

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 - Use the up and down arrows to set a clear credit order - 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 the first author
  2. Add the second author
  3. Add the third author
  4. Use the up and down arrows under Order to put them in credit order

Credits appear in the order you set.

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.