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HARO Response Writer for Journalist Queries
Paste a journalist's query and your background. Get a response that answers the question first, with quotable lines from your real experience and a subject line.
River's HARO response writer turns a journalist's source request into a pitch-ready answer. Paste the query from HARO, Qwoted, Featured or any similar service, plus a few lines about the expert answering it. River writes a response that answers the exact question in the first lines and offers two or three quotable sentences grounded in the expert's real experience. It adds a short credentials line and contact details, and a subject line that matches what the reporter asked for. It also tells you when a query is a poor fit.
Journalists on these services receive many replies to each query, and most are sales pitches, generic tips or answers to a different question. Since HARO's 2025 relaunch, its new owner has added checks for AI-written replies, and reporters are quick to discard text that sounds manufactured. This response is built from the expert's actual experience and opinions, follows the query's instructions on length and format, and never invents a statistic or a credential, which is what earns a quote.
It is for consultants, founders, freelance writers and agency teams who answer source requests for themselves or for clients. Use it the moment a relevant query arrives, since reporters often work to tight deadlines. Answering a few well-matched queries a week usually beats answering every one. If the expert wants to pitch shows rather than reporters, the podcast pitch writer handles that, and the guest post pitch generator covers contributed articles. When the expert has a whole argument to make, the op-ed writer drafts a piece for a newspaper opinion page.
What makes a journalist use your quote
Reporters use responses that answer their question directly, quickly and quotably. Put the answer in the first sentence, not your biography. Then give two or three lines they could paste into a story as they are: specific, a little opinionated, and grounded in something you have seen or done. "We cut onboarding from six weeks to two by dropping the welcome deck" is quotable. "Onboarding is critical to retention" is not. Keep the whole reply short enough to read at a glance.
Follow the query's rules exactly. If it asks for a word limit, a particular credential, or answers to three specific questions, a response that ignores them is usually deleted unread. Read the requirements line before writing anything and decide honestly whether the expert qualifies. Answering queries you are not a fit for wastes the reporter's time and teaches them to skip your name. A response that offers exactly what was asked, from someone who has done it, stands out immediately.
The services themselves have changed. HARO ran under Cision's Connectively brand through most of 2024 and was closed at the end of that year. In April 2025 Cision sold it to Featured.com, which relaunched the free email version. Alternatives such as Qwoted work in a similar way. Whatever the service, the rule is the same: be the best answer to the question asked, from real experience, and make it easy to quote and verify.
How it works
Paste the query
The full request from HARO, Qwoted, Featured or a reporter's post, including any requirements.
Add the expert
A few lines on who is answering, their experience, and how the reporter can reach them.
Get the response
A short, quotable reply with a subject line, plus a note if the fit is weak.
Tighten in chat
Ask for a shorter version, a different angle, or a reply to the reporter's follow-up question.
What you get
- A response that answers the reporter's exact question in its opening sentence
- Two or three quotable lines drawn from the expert's real experience and opinions
- The query's length, format and credential requirements followed exactly, so it is not discarded
- A short credentials line and contact details, with nothing invented or inflated
- A subject line that matches the query, so the reply is easy to find and file
- An honest fit check that tells you when to skip a query rather than answer it
Common questions
Is HARO still running?
Yes, in a new form. Cision closed it at the end of 2024, then sold it to Featured.com in April 2025, which relaunched the free email version. Other services such as Qwoted and Featured's own platform also connect reporters with sources. This tool works with any of them, and with requests reporters post on social media.
Will journalists know the response was drafted with AI?
What reporters reject is generic text: vague tips, no real experience, answers to a different question. This response is built from the expert's own experience and opinions, so it reads as theirs. The expert should still read it, adjust anything that is not how they would say it, and send it themselves, since the quote will appear under their name.
How long should a response be?
As long as the query allows and no longer. Many reporters ask for a word limit, and River keeps to it. Without one, a strong response is usually a short paragraph or two: the direct answer, a couple of quotable lines and a credentials line. Reporters can always ask for more, and short replies are the ones they finish reading.
Can I answer queries for my clients?
Yes, as long as the client has approved the response and the experience is genuinely theirs. Agencies often draft replies for executives to approve quickly. Paste the client's background and past quotes as the expert details and River writes in their voice. Never send a reply the expert has not seen, since reporters may follow up directly.
What if I am not a perfect fit for the query?
River will say so. If the query asks for a credential or experience you do not have, the honest move is to skip it, and River explains why. If you are a partial fit, it drafts a response that is clear about what you can speak to, which reporters respect far more than a stretched claim.
Built by
Chandler Supple
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.
HARO Response Writer for Journalist Queries
Describe what you need, add any files you have, and your workspace opens with the work already underway.