How to Submit and Distribute a Press Release

Choose your destinations, compose your release, then review and submit it from your newsroom partner's Inbox site.

New submission flow

This guide describes the three-step flow when it is enabled for your Inbox site: Distribution, Content & Quality Check, and Review & Submit. Calendar events and some existing submissions use their existing screens. Follow the steps shown on your submission.

Free during beta

Submission is free during beta. The new flow has no checkout or payment step. Distribution does not guarantee publication by an outlet.

Before You Begin

You need an organization account, your release text, a media contact, and any attachments you want to include. Open your newsroom partner's Inbox site, sign in, select + New Submission, and choose Press release.

Choose Your Destinations

1. On Distribution, select the groups or individual outlets you want to reach. A group is a network of newsrooms.
2. If exactly one network is available, it is selected for you on your first visit. You can clear it or change the selection. Returning to the page preserves your choices. When multiple networks are available, choose the ones you want.
3. Review the Sending to summary and select Continue.

Your newsroom partner may display an image showing its coverage. Use the destination list to choose recipients; the image is an illustration, not an interactive map. You can select destinations even if no image is supplied or it cannot load.

Write the Release and Add Attachments

Enter your headline, dateline, lead paragraph, body, and media contact in Content & Quality Check. Use the body editor for formatting, lists, and links. You can also enter a subheadline, boilerplate, phone number, priority, embargo, and search information where offered.

To attach media, choose Upload an attachment or enter a video link, then select Add attachment. Review the uploaded item and add a caption if needed. Content and attachments stay together on this page. If an upload fails, read the message and retry the attachment; text saved before the upload remains in your draft.

Use Save draft to keep your work, or Save and return to drafts to leave. A Quality Check saves the text before reviewing it. You can keep editing and save while a check runs; the result applies to the version it checked, so later edits can make it outdated.

Use the Quality Check

Your newsroom partner chooses the review policy. You do not select an AI mode while submitting.

Site policy	What you need to do
Off	Continue to submit for a person to review.
Optional	Run a check if you want feedback, or continue for manual review. A current passing result can proceed to distribution after you submit.
Required to run, not required to pass	Run a check on your saved release. A current non-passing result or provider error can continue to manual review. After all three checks are used, you may edit and submit for manual review.
Required to pass before submitting	Obtain a passing result for the current saved release. Edits beyond the check's exact recommendations require another check before submitting. Exhausting the allowance without a current pass blocks submission.

If the site has no configured AI provider, submission goes to manual review under every policy. While a check is queued or running, wait for it to finish before continuing.

Keep Track of Your Three Checks

Each submission has three checks for its current review round. Every accepted check counts, including a pass or a provider failure. Editing, saving, refreshing, or reopening a draft does not restore checks.

For example, run a check and pass: two remain. Change the release beyond the check's recommendations and run another check: one remains. The first pass stays in the history but no longer qualifies those edits.

Suggestions are optional. Select only the suggestions you want, then choose Apply selected suggestions. Nothing is rewritten merely because a result arrived. Save newer edits before applying suggestions if the page asks you to do so.

Applying the current check's exact SEO or headline recommendations keeps its result valid and does not require another check. The same applies when you enter matching values directly into the form and save. Other changes can make the result outdated. Accepting recommendations preserves the existing result; it does not turn an unsuccessful check into a pass.

When the page allows it, select Continue. This saves your text and opens Review & Submit.

Review and Submit

1. Check the saved destinations, release preview, attachments, timing, and What happens next message. Attached images appear with their filenames, captions, and credits. Use Edit content or Change destinations if needed.
2. Read and check the rights acknowledgement. It starts unchecked and confirms that you may submit the content and allow receiving outlets to use it. The existing wording mentions payment, but submission remains free during beta.
3. Select Submit release and read the receipt.

A Quality Check alone does not submit or distribute your draft. After your final submission, a current passing result can proceed to distribution. Releases routed to manual review remain private until an editor approves them. Processing may take time; refreshing or retrying the same submission does not create another distribution.

After distribution, the release appears in the receiving newsrooms' Inbox workflow. Its public page and downloads respect any embargo. Check your dashboard to track the submission.

Respond to a Request for Revision

If the site's editor returns your submission, read the reason and reopen it to make changes. An accepted revision request starts a fresh allowance of three checks. Reopening that same request again does not grant another three.

If a receiving outlet requests a correction after distribution, open the requested correction and follow its existing correction screens. That authorized request also grants three fresh checks. A pass, an edit, and another check leave one. The earlier check history is retained, and the published release stays unchanged until the approved correction replaces it. Starting a correction yourself does not automatically grant a new allowance.

See How to Correct, Retract, or Archive a Press Release for the correction workflow.

Troubleshooting

• The result is outdated: Save your changes and run another check if the policy requires one. Under required-to-run, exhausted checks can proceed to manual review.
• No checks remain and a pass is required: Contact your newsroom partner. Saving or reopening cannot reset the allowance.
• A check is taking too long: Keep your saved draft. The page polls for the result; contact support if it remains stuck. Repeated clicks do not create extra checks for the same request.
• The page says another version or the settings changed: Keep a copy of unsaved text, reload the saved draft, and review it before trying again.
• Submission is temporarily paused: Your draft remains saved. Return later and follow the retry message.
• A destination is unavailable: Review the list and select an available destination. The system will not silently substitute another one.
• Awaiting manual review: Your newsroom partner reviews the release on its own schedule. Watch for its decision or revision notes.
• Still stuck? Email support@pluckyworks.org.