Newsletter with Guest Posts

A Byline implementation for an indie newsletter with a primary author and occasional guest contributors.

What This Demonstrates

• Primary author defined at feed level
• Inline guest author definition within an item
• Guest role for one-time contributors
• Curation perspective for link roundups
• Personal perspective for guest essays

Inline vs Feed-Level

Guest authors who appear only once can be defined inline within the item. Regular contributors should be defined at feed level for reuse.

Full Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:byline="https://bylinespec.org/1.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Dense Discovery</title>
    <link>https://densediscovery.com</link>
    <description>A weekly newsletter about tech, design, and culture.</description>

    <byline:contributors>
      <byline:person id="kai">
        <byline:name>Kai Brach</byline:name>
        <byline:context>Designer and publisher of Dense Discovery. Previously founded Offscreen Magazine.</byline:context>
        <byline:url>https://kaibrach.com</byline:url>
        <byline:avatar>https://densediscovery.com/kai-avatar.jpg</byline:avatar>
        <byline:profile href="https://mastodon.social/@kaibrach" rel="mastodon"/>
        <byline:now>https://kaibrach.com/now</byline:now>
        <byline:uses>https://kaibrach.com/uses</byline:uses>
        <byline:theme color="#F97316" accent="#0D9488" style="light"/>
      </byline:person>
    </byline:contributors>

    <item>
      <title>Issue 287</title>
      <link>https://densediscovery.com/issues/287</link>
      <guid>https://densediscovery.com/issues/287</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>This week: design systems, sustainable tech, and more...</description>
      <byline:author ref="kai"/>
      <byline:perspective>curation</byline:perspective>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Guest Essay: The case for slow software</title>
      <link>https://densediscovery.com/guest/slow-software</link>
      <guid>https://densediscovery.com/guest/slow-software</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 12 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Software doesn't have to be fast. Sometimes it should be slow...</description>
      <byline:author>
        <byline:person id="robin-guest">
          <byline:name>Robin Sloan</byline:name>
          <byline:context>Novelist and programmer. Author of "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore." This is a guest essay.</byline:context>
          <byline:url>https://robinsloan.com</byline:url>
          <byline:profile href="https://social.robinsloan.com/@robin" rel="mastodon"/>
          <byline:now>https://robinsloan.com/now</byline:now>
        </byline:person>
      </byline:author>
      <byline:role>guest</byline:role>
      <byline:perspective>personal</byline:perspective>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Key Elements

Inline Author Definition

The guest post includes the full author definition inside the <byline:author> element rather than referencing a feed-level contributor. This is useful for one-time guests.

Guest Role

The guest role explicitly marks this as a guest contribution, making it clear to readers that this person doesn't normally write for this publication.

Curation Perspective

Newsletters that primarily curate links should use the curation perspective for their regular issues, while original essays use personal.