Frequently Asked Questions

PitchBud turns an announcement into a drafted press release, publishes it on a public newsroom page, previews relevant journalists, and prepares personalized pitches for you to review and send from your own inbox. Publishing also queues transparent discovery notifications and, when available, an archival snapshot request. These signals do not guarantee indexing, pickup, replies, or coverage.

Traditional wire services distribute releases broadly, often including automated republishing. PitchBud instead publishes a newsroom page, finds relevant journalists and creators, and drafts personalized pitches tied to their recent work. You review and send every pitch from your own inbox; PitchBud never sends journalist outreach automatically.

Yes. In Settings (Opportunities → Profile), you can configure a sender persona with a name, title, company, and optional signature footer. When active, PitchBud frames pitches in third person about your company instead of writing as the founder. The optional footer is added when you open the pitch; you still choose which email account sends it.

Yes. PitchBud runs an automated editorial check when you click Publish. It verifies a minimum word count, a valid contact email or phone, no placeholder text, and that the headline is not all-caps or misleadingly short. It also runs a quick AI pass to flag spam, deceptive health claims, or content that would embarrass a wire service. If anything is flagged as a blocker, the publish is held and the specific issue is shown so you can fix it before resubmitting.

Yes. When you trigger a journalist scan on a release, you can narrow it to one or more venue types: media outlets, Substack writers, newsletters, blogs, or podcasts. Leave all types selected for the widest pool, or pick just one to focus on a specific channel. Your selection does not permanently change any default — just click Scan again to change the mix.

Yes. In Settings (Opportunities → Profile) you can enable the 'Email-only contacts' filter. When on, journalists who only have a contact-form link are hidden from your journalist list — only rows with a known email address are shown. Toggle it off at any time to see the full list; no underlying data is deleted.

Yes. From the release editor, you can upload a cover image or paste a YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, Wistia, or direct MP4 URL. Recognized videos play in the editor preview and on the published newsroom page; unsupported URLs remain clickable links. Book releases sent through the SelfPublishing.pro integration can attach the cover automatically.

Yes. On Opportunities → Profile, paste a readable public bio, About, or personal-site URL and click “Draft from URL.” PitchBud drafts a plain-text expertise summary that you can edit before saving. Sites that block automated reading, including LinkedIn, will not work; use a first-party page or write the profile manually.

Yes. Each journalist row has a Do-Not-Contact option. Mark them as personal DNC and they will be filtered out of every future scan for your account only. If a journalist has explicitly asked not to be contacted by anyone, you can set the scope to global, which removes them from all PitchBud users future scans as well. Your Do-Not-Contact list is visible and editable under Settings (Opportunities → Profile).

Yes. The Campaign Pack is a one-time $59 purchase for one release. It unlocks journalist contact paths, expands the shortlist to up to 25 matches, and includes personalized pitch drafts. There is no recurring charge.

Yes. If you have an account on SelfPublishing.pro with the same email address as your PitchBud account, use the "Send to PitchBud" button on your book page. SelfPublishing.pro pushes your title, description, author bio, and cover image to PitchBud, which auto-drafts the release, runs it through editorial review, and publishes it to your newsroom page for you — no extra steps required. If anything needs your attention it stays as an editable draft instead, and either way you get an email with a link to check it.

Yes. The free PR Readiness Scorecard at pitchbud.io/tools/pr-readiness asks eight quick questions about your story, proof, audience, and outreach plan and gives you an instant score with a plain-English next-step plan. No account required — enter your email at the end to receive the full scorecard.

Yes. Fill out the PR Intake form at pitchbud.io/pr-intake with your announcement stage, goal, budget, and timeline. It takes about two minutes and helps us point you toward the free preview or the one-time $59 Campaign Pack.

Yes. In Settings (Opportunities → Profile) you can choose a subject-line prefix for every pitch PitchBud drafts: "Pitch:" (e.g. Pitch: How indie publishers are using AI narration), "Story idea:", or no prefix at all. PR professionals routinely tag pitches this way to help journalists triage their inbox — you can change the setting at any time and it applies to future drafts.

If you are on a legacy subscription plan, you can manage it anytime from your account billing page — upgrades take effect immediately, while downgrades and cancellations take effect at the end of your current billing period. New customers no longer purchase subscriptions; the current paid options are the one-time $59 Campaign Pack, $59 Guest Campaign Pack, and $79 Influencer Pack.

Each press release created during the current calendar month counts toward your monthly allowance, including drafts, ready releases, and published releases. The counter resets each month, and unused releases do not roll over. Deleting a release does not restore that month’s slot. Private influencer campaigns are separate and do not count toward the release allowance.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok all block automated scraping, so PitchBud can't pull product details from those links. Paste your own website, product page, or author site instead, or fill in the "About your product / company" textarea with a couple paragraphs — either gives the AI real grounding to work from instead of guessing.

Yes. The Journalists tab shows a "pitched before" note on any reporter you've previously sent to or heard back from on any of your past releases, plus when that last happened. It matches by the journalist's profile link so the same person is recognized across every release you've run — available on every plan, including Free.

Yes. The release form accepts up to five source URLs at once — useful if your announcement draws on a product page, a press kit, and a couple of supporting articles. PitchBud reads all of them together as grounding for the draft; you still need at least one page it can actually read (see the Amazon/LinkedIn question above).

Yes. On the Distribute tab, each destination row has a "mark as done" option where you can paste the URL you submitted to and record it as complete yourself — handy for directories or wires you submit to outside PitchBud. You can undo it at any time if you marked it by mistake.

Yes. When your release reads as a local or regional story — a city launch, a regional business note, a home-services announcement — PitchBud automatically detects that and biases journalist matching toward local outlets and regional reporters instead of only national trade press. You can also add local news, regional business, or home services beat tags in the release editor to reinforce the match. Free previews still show 3 matches, and a Campaign Pack unlocks up to 25.

Yes. From your releases list, you can delete any release — draft or published — with a confirmation step first. Deleting removes the release, its journalist matches, and any uploaded images for good; published pages stop working immediately. Payment records are kept, and a deleted release still counts toward that month's free-plan usage so it can't be used to reset your monthly limit.

Yes. A campaign you haven't pitched from yet can be deleted from your Guest Campaigns list, and your Guest Campaign Pack credit is returned automatically. Once any match has been marked sent, replied, or booked, the campaign can no longer be deleted, since that history is what keeps a show from being pitched twice by different PitchBud users.

Nothing is lost. Drafting runs as a background job rather than something tied to your open browser tab, so it keeps writing even if you close the page or your connection drops. Reopen the release from your dashboard and you will find the finished draft waiting, or the drafting screen if it is still working.

Set up a product campaign for free, then use one $79 Influencer Pack to search for up to 25 matching YouTube creators; repeat searches for that campaign remain covered. PitchBud measures recent reach, engagement, and posting rhythm, and weak matches are not counted against the 25. Paste a reply, add a rate-card link, or upload a PDF, image, Word, or text file to compare every quoted package and estimate break-even sales; when a price does not work, PitchBud can draft a numbers-based counteroffer or polite decline for you to review. You send all messages, negotiate and pay creators directly, and handle required disclosures; scorecards and suggested prices are estimates, not performance guarantees.

PitchBud labels each sponsorship price as coming from the creator's pasted reply, a linked or uploaded rate card, or a figure entered by hand. The campaign lets you reopen the saved reply, link, or uploaded file. Hand-entered figures are clearly marked as working assumptions and can be cleared, so they are not mistaken for creator quotes.

The opportunity grade (A–C) measures the creator before a price is known, using audience fit, measured reach, engagement, and activity. The price grade evaluates a specific quoted package against the reach and terms it is expected to deliver. A creator can therefore be a strong fit but still quote a poor-value offer.

Not at the moment. Influencer matching currently covers YouTube creators only, because PitchBud grades each creator on measured public reach, engagement, and upload rhythm. You can still negotiate cross-posting or other extras with a creator, and PitchBud will show them in the offer comparison without assigning them a price.

Yes. If your release has a video or a cover image, PitchBud adds those links at the end of each drafted pitch, with a short note saying what each one is. Editors get the visuals without having to hunt for them, and you can still edit or remove the links before you send.

Yes. Journalist matching and podcast guest categories include specialist trades such as car dealerships, RVs, board and card games, crowdfunding, gym and fitness businesses, vacation rentals, home builders, boat dealers and marinas, equipment and tool rental, apartment, multifamily, and senior-living operators, HVAC, plumbing and home-service contractors, and solar, battery and standby-generator installers. Pick the matching industry beat or show category so PitchBud looks beyond general business press. Niche trade scans can take a few minutes longer.

Yes. When pitches are drafted more than three weeks after your release went live, PitchBud stops calling it new or just-announced news. Instead it pitches your company and what it offers as a story idea, mentioning the announcement date only where it helps. You can still edit every pitch before you send it.

No. PitchBud drafts a personalized subject and body for each journalist and queues them in the Journalists tab. You review each pitch, optionally edit it in your email client, and send it yourself. PitchBud never sends journalist outreach automatically. When you publish, discovery and archival notifications run automatically, but they are not wire syndication and do not guarantee indexing or coverage.

Free campaigns preview up to 3 relevant journalist matches. A one-time $59 Campaign Pack expands that release to up to 25 matches and personalized pitch drafts. Results can be fewer when the system cannot verify enough strong, currently active targets; PitchBud does not pad the list with weak contacts.

HARO originally shut down after Cision acquired it, then Cision's replacement Connectively closed in late 2024. HARO has since been revived by Featured.com and continues as a source-request email service. PitchBud's Opportunities tool can score HARO/Featured, Qwoted, Help a B2B Writer, and SourceBottle digests against your expertise profile and draft expert responses for the strongest matches — this is available to existing subscription-plan customers. It isn't part of the current Free preview or the one-time Campaign Pack.

Yes. Every pitch opens in a modal showing the subject and body. The body is editable in your email client after you click "Open in email" — make any tweaks you want before hitting Send. We never auto-send.

Once you publish a release, click "Check now" in the Coverage tab. PitchBud searches the web for your headline in quotes and for distinctive phrases from your subtitle, then fetches each candidate page and verifies it actually mentions your brand or quotes the headline (false positives get filtered out). Hits get recorded as real editorial pickups — your own newsroom and any free-syndication networks are excluded. Available on every plan including Free.

Journalist scans and pitch drafting run in the background and can take a few minutes, depending on campaign scope and service availability. You can leave the page and return later; the campaign shows progress and keeps completed work.

PitchBud uses a public email when it can verify one. If none is available, it may show the journalist's contact form, pitching page, or Substack profile instead. You review the route and make every final send yourself.

Yes. Build a hosted Guest One-Sheet — your bio, angles, suggested questions, and booking contact — by hand or let AI draft a starting point from your name and website; nothing saves until you review it. Publish it for free, then a one-time $59 Guest Campaign Pack matches you against a pool of verified, currently-bookable shows and drafts personalized pitches for you to review and send from your own inbox.

A hosted public page (at pitchbud.io/guest/your-slug) that's the guest-pitch counterpart of a newsroom release page — it shows your bio, the topics and angles you're ready to talk about, suggested interview questions, and how to book you. Every guest-campaign pitch links back to it, and publishing it is free.

PitchBud has four public options: Free ($0) to draft and publish one release per month and preview up to 3 journalist matches; the one-time $59 Campaign Pack for up to 25 journalist matches and personalized pitches; the one-time $59 Guest Campaign Pack for one podcast guest campaign; and the one-time $79 Influencer Pack for one paid YouTube sponsorship campaign. None requires a new subscription.

No. PitchBud does not resell paid wire distribution. It publishes your release on a PitchBud newsroom page and helps you pitch relevant journalists directly from your own inbox. If you need a regulated disclosure wire, such as for public-company earnings, buy that service directly from the wire provider.

PitchBud uses your email for account access, service communications, and integrations you choose to use, such as matching a SelfPublishing.pro account. We do not sell your data or send journalist pitches through a shared sending system. You open and send pitches from your own inbox.