@Clifford The easiest thing is to make a note of the contact details of organisations you want to target (such as WP Tavern, Post Status). Send your release directly to these outlets, rather than relying on them picking up your release from the literally lots any scanning service might point their way. Plus, it makes them feel you've targeted them specifically, which doesn't hurt ;-)

@David What is 'newsworthy'? It depends on your audience as much as your product. In general you're trying to change people's opinions or actions as a result of your release (e.g. to get them to download it). If you've written yet another Gutenberg blocks collection, possibly it's not news. If you've written a plugin to aggregate other block collection plugins (thus aiding discovery), that's something new, useful and worth Justin test-driving and reviewing. If the plugin has one million downloads in the first month, definitely tell people! A simple question is: as a WordPress user, would you be interested in your plugin/service/theme if you read about it?

Transparency note: as well as being a WordPress enthusiast I'm a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the UK. I'll be sharing this article with my professional colleagues and followers later - it's good advice. Thanks, Justin.