Running a blog solo gets exhausting. You’re writing, editing, publishing, promoting—all by yourself. What if you could share that workload?
Here’s the deal: WordPress lets you add co-authors to your Badass Network blog. You can invite other writers to create content, editors to review posts, or contributors who submit drafts for your approval. Everyone gets their own login, and you control exactly what each person can do.
We’ve run collaborative blogs before, and honestly, bringing on co-authors breathes new life into your content. Different voices, different perspectives, more consistent publishing. Plus, it’s way easier to maintain momentum when you’re not doing everything yourself.
What You’ll Need
- Admin access to your Badass Network blog
- Email addresses for the people you want to invite
- A clear idea of what role each person should have (we’ll explain the roles below)
- About 10 minutes to add users and configure their permissions
That’s it. No technical expertise required—just some basic decision-making about who gets access to what.
Understanding WordPress User Roles
WordPress has five built-in user roles, each with different capabilities. Here’s what matters for collaboration:
Administrator (you, probably)
That’s you. Full control. You can do everything—add users, change settings, delete the entire blog if you wanted to (don’t). There should only be one or two Administrators on most blogs.
Editor
Can publish and manage ALL posts on the blog, including posts by other authors. Editors can’t change blog settings or add new users, but they’ve got full control over content. Perfect for a trusted partner who helps manage your blog’s publishing.
Author
Can write, edit, and publish their own posts. They can upload images and manage media. They can’t edit anyone else’s content or mess with blog settings. Good for regular contributors who you trust to publish without review.
Contributor
Can write and edit their own posts, but can’t publish them. Their drafts sit in the queue until an Editor or Administrator reviews and publishes. Also, they can’t upload images or media files. Use this role when you want someone to submit content but you need editorial control before it goes live.
Subscriber
Just reads content and manages their own profile. Can’t write or publish anything. Rarely useful for collaboration, but it exists.
Adding Your First Co-Author
Alright, let’s add someone to your blog.
Log into Your Dashboard
Log into your WordPress dashboard. Head to your blog’s admin area (usually badassnetwork.com/yourblog/wp-admin).
Navigate to Users
Find Users in the left sidebar. Hover over it and click Add New from the submenu. Or just click Users, then click Add New at the top of the page. Either works.
Enter Username
Enter their username. This is what they’ll use to log in. Make it simple—their first name usually works, or firstname-lastname if you’ve already got someone with that name. Lowercase, no spaces (use hyphens or underscores instead).
Add Email Address
Add their email address. WordPress sends login credentials to this email, so make sure it’s correct. They’ll also receive notifications here about comments, password resets, etc.
Choose a Role
Choose a role from the dropdown. Pick Editor, Author, or Contributor based on how much control you want them to have. If you’re not sure, start with Contributor. You can always upgrade them later once you see how the collaboration works.
Enable User Notification
Leave “Send User Notification” checked. This sends them an email with their login credentials and a link to your blog’s login page. They’ll be able to log in immediately.
Create the User
Click Add New User at the bottom. Done. WordPress creates their account and sends them an email. They should receive it within a few minutes.
What Your Co-Author Receives
When you add someone, they get an email from WordPress with:
- The blog URL and login page link
- Their username
- Their password (or a link to set one)
- A brief explanation of their role
The email’s pretty straightforward. Most people figure it out without help, though occasionally someone misses it or checks their spam folder. Worth following up if they don’t respond within a day.
Setting Expectations with Your Co-Authors
Before your co-authors start writing, clarify:
Publishing schedule: How often should they post? Weekly? Monthly? As inspiration strikes? Set realistic expectations so nobody feels overwhelmed or underwhelmed.
Topics and tone: What subjects fit your blog? What voice should they use? If your blog’s personal and conversational, you don’t want someone submitting formal academic essays.
Formatting and style: Should they use specific categories or tags? Add featured images? Follow certain formatting guidelines? The more specific you are, the less editing you’ll do later.
Review process: If they’re Contributors, how quickly will you review their drafts? Don’t leave them hanging for weeks—that kills motivation fast.
Bylines and credit: Will their name appear as the author? Do they get a bio? Can they link to their own projects? People care about attribution.
Managing Multiple Authors
Once you’ve got several people contributing, you’ll need to keep track of who’s doing what.
Check the Users list: Go to Users > All Users to see everyone with access to your blog. You’ll see their username, name, email, role, and number of posts.
Click on any user to edit their profile, change their role, or delete them if they’re no longer contributing.
View posts by author: Want to see what a specific person has written? Go to Posts > All Posts, then use the dropdown at the top to filter by author name. Shows all their published posts, drafts, and scheduled content.
Helpful for tracking who’s keeping up with their commitments and who might need a nudge.
Monitor pending posts: If you’ve got Contributors submitting drafts, check Posts > All Posts and filter by “Pending Review.” These are drafts waiting for you to approve and publish.
We try to check this at least 2-3 times a week. Faster feedback keeps contributors engaged and makes them more likely to keep submitting.
Editing Someone Else’s Post
As an Administrator or Editor, you can edit anyone’s posts—even after they’re published.
Go to Posts > All Posts, find the post you want to edit, click Edit. Make your changes, then click Update to save.
Most co-author relationships work better when there’s transparency about edits. Nobody likes discovering their work was changed without their knowledge.
Changing Someone’s Role
People’s responsibilities change. Your Contributor becomes reliable, so you promote them to Author. Or an Editor steps back and you downgrade them to Contributor.
Access Users
Go to Users > All Users.
Edit the User
Hover over the user’s name and click Edit (or just click their name).
Update Role
Scroll down to the Role dropdown and select their new role.
Save Changes
Click Update User at the bottom. Their new permissions take effect immediately.
Worth letting them know when you change their role. “Hey, I upgraded you to Editor—you can now publish and edit all posts on the blog. Thanks for being awesome.” People appreciate knowing when their responsibilities change.
Removing a Co-Author
Sometimes collaboration doesn’t work out. Someone stops contributing, moves on to other projects, or just isn’t a good fit.
You’ve got two options: delete their account or keep it but remove their access.
To delete a user:
- Go to Users > All Users
- Hover over their name and click Delete (the red link)
- WordPress asks what to do with their existing posts:
- Delete all posts by this user (careful with this one)
- Attribute their posts to another user (usually better—preserves their content but reassigns authorship)
- Choose the option that makes sense, then confirm the deletion
To just remove their access:
Change their role to Subscriber. They’ll still have an account but can’t write, edit, or publish anything. Useful if you might want them back later or if you want to preserve their authorship on old posts without giving them current access.
Handling Contributor Drafts
If you’re working with Contributors (people who submit drafts for approval), you’ll need a workflow for reviewing and publishing their work.
Check for Pending Posts
Go to Posts > All Posts and filter by “Pending Review” in the dropdown at the top. You’ll see all drafts waiting for approval.
Review the Draft
Click Edit to open it in the editor. Review the content, formatting, categories, tags, and any media they’ve included.
Make Edits if Needed
Fix typos, adjust formatting, add missing categories. This is your chance to ensure everything meets your blog’s standards before it goes live.
Publish or Send Feedback
If it’s good to go, click Publish in the top-right. The post goes live immediately with the Contributor’s name as the author. If it needs work, leave the status as Pending and reach out with specific feedback.
Tips for Successful Blog Collaboration
We’ve managed collaborative blogs for years. Here’s what actually works:
Start with one or two co-authors. Don’t invite five people at once. Add writers gradually so you can figure out your workflow without getting overwhelmed. You can always expand later.
Communicate often. Quick check-ins keep everyone aligned. “How’s that post coming?” or “Need any help with your draft?” makes a huge difference. People ghost when they feel ignored.
Recognize contributions. When someone publishes a great post, tell them. Public shout-outs, private messages, whatever fits your style. Writers keep writing when they feel appreciated.
Create an editorial calendar. Even a simple shared spreadsheet where people claim dates and topics prevents duplicate posts and awkward scheduling conflicts. Doesn’t have to be fancy—just clear.
Be patient with new writers. Their first few posts might need heavy editing. That’s normal. Most people improve quickly with feedback. Give them a few posts before deciding it’s not working.
Set consequences for ghosting. If someone commits to monthly posts and disappears for three months without explanation, that’s not collaboration—that’s dead weight. Have a conversation or remove their access. Don’t let flaky contributors drag down your blog.
Respect different writing styles. Yeah, you’ll need some consistency in formatting and tone, but don’t try to make everyone sound identical. Different voices make your blog more interesting. Edit for clarity and correctness, not to homogenize everything.
Common Situations
Depends on their role. Editors can see and edit everyone’s posts. Authors and Contributors can only see their own work. They can’t access drafts by other authors.
If you want more transparency (like allowing Authors to see each other’s drafts for feedback), you’ll need a plugin. WordPress doesn’t do that by default.
WordPress shows a notification: “Another user is currently editing this post.” You can take over the editing session, but you’ll overwrite any changes the other person is making.
Best practice: communicate before editing someone else’s work. “I’m going to update your post now” avoids conflicts and lost work.
Not with default WordPress. Everyone with Author or Editor access can create new categories and tags freely. If you need tighter control, you’d need a plugin that restricts taxonomies by user role.
Usually it’s easier to just communicate expectations. “We only use these five categories—don’t create new ones without asking first.”
Each post displays the author name automatically (assuming your theme includes author bylines). Readers can usually click the author name to see all posts by that person.
If your theme doesn’t show author names, you might need to adjust theme settings or contact support. Most themes display authors by default on multi-author blogs.
Nope. That’s one of the main differences between Contributors and Authors. Contributors write and submit drafts, but they can’t add media. You’ll need to add images during the review process before publishing.
If they need to include images, upgrade them to Author or have them share image files separately so you can add them to their draft.
They go to the login page and click “Lost your password?” WordPress emails them a reset link. They set a new password and they’re back in.
You can also reset it for them: Go to Users > All Users, click their name, scroll to “Account Management,” click “Generate Password,” and send them the new one. But it’s usually easier to let them handle it themselves.
When Collaboration Gets Complicated
Most blogs run smoothly with the basic setup we’ve covered. But sometimes you’ll hit edge cases or specific needs that WordPress’s default user roles don’t handle well.
You want someone to write but not publish—but they need to upload images.
Yeah, that’s annoying. Contributors can’t upload media, but Authors can publish. The workaround: make them an Author but tell them not to publish without approval. Relies on trust, which isn’t ideal but works for most teams.
Alternatively, there are plugins that create custom user roles with specific capabilities. You could create a “Writer” role that allows media uploads but not publishing. Badass Network might not allow plugin installation, though—check with support if you need custom roles.
You have editors who should review before publication, but Authors are publishing directly.
Two options: Downgrade Authors to Contributors so everything requires approval, or communicate clearly that Authors should submit drafts for review even though they technically could publish.
Some blogs use a status like “Pending Review” even for Authors. They write the post, leave it as Pending, and an Editor publishes it later. Requires discipline but works.
You’re worried about someone accidentally deleting important content.
Editors and Administrators can delete anyone’s posts, including yours. If that’s a concern, don’t give Editor access to people you don’t trust completely. Stick with Author or Contributor roles for less-trusted collaborators.
WordPress does have a Trash system (deleted posts go to Trash for 30 days before permanent deletion), so accidental deletions are usually recoverable. But yeah, be careful with who gets Editor permissions.
What You’ve Set Up
You’ve added co-authors to your Badass Network blog, configured their roles and permissions, and established a workflow for collaborative content creation. You know how to manage multiple writers, review contributor drafts, and adjust access as your team evolves.
Bringing co-authors into your blog transforms it from a solo project into a team effort. More voices, more ideas, more consistent content. It takes some coordination, but the payoff in quality and consistency is worth it.
Next step? Get your co-authors writing. Send them that first assignment, share your expectations, and see what they create. You can always adjust permissions and processes as you figure out what works best for your team.