diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/floodsub.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/floodsub.nim
index e4e4833de..e0118db39 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/floodsub.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/floodsub.nim
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ logScope:
 const FloodSubCodec* = "/floodsub/1.0.0"
 
 type
-  FloodSub = ref object of PubSub
+  FloodSub* = ref object of PubSub
     peers*: Table[string, PubSubPeer] # peerid to peer map
     peerTopics*: Table[string, HashSet[string]] # topic to remote peer map
 
@@ -145,6 +145,8 @@ method subscribeToPeer*(f: FloodSub, conn: Connection) {.async, gcsafe.} =
 method publish*(f: FloodSub,
                 topic: string,
                 data: seq[byte]) {.async, gcsafe.} =
+  await procCall PubSub(f).publish(topic, data)
+
   trace "about to publish message on topic", name = topic, data = data.toHex()
   if data.len > 0 and topic.len > 0:
     let msg = makeMessage(f.peerInfo.peerId.get(), data, topic)
@@ -169,10 +171,8 @@ method unsubscribe*(f: FloodSub,
   for p in f.peers.values:
     await f.sendSubs(p, topics.mapIt(it.topic).deduplicate(), false)
 
-proc newFloodSub*(peerInfo: PeerInfo): FloodSub = 
-  new result
-  result.peerInfo = peerInfo
-  result.peers = initTable[string, PubSubPeer]()
-  result.topics = initTable[string, Topic]()
-  result.peerTopics = initTable[string, HashSet[string]]()
-  result.init()
+method initPubSub*(f: FloodSub) = 
+  f.peers = initTable[string, PubSubPeer]()
+  f.topics = initTable[string, Topic]()
+  f.peerTopics = initTable[string, HashSet[string]]()
+  f.init()
diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim
index 4b5d78909..58023d404 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ type
   PubSub* = ref object of LPProtocol
     peerInfo*: PeerInfo
     topics*: Table[string, Topic] # local topics
+    triggerSelf*: bool # flag indicating if the local handler should be triggered on publish
 
 method subscribeToPeer*(p: PubSub, conn: Connection) {.base, async, gcsafe.} =
   ## subscribe to a peer to send/receive pubsub messages
@@ -72,4 +73,15 @@ method subscribe*(p: PubSub,
 
 method publish*(p: PubSub, topic: string, data: seq[byte]) {.base, async, gcsafe.} = 
   ## publish to a ``topic``
+  if p.triggerSelf and topic in p.topics:
+    for h in p.topics[topic].handler:
+      await h(topic, data)
+
+method initPubSub*(p: PubSub) {.base.} = 
   discard
+
+proc newPubSub*(p: typedesc[PubSub], peerInfo: PeerInfo, triggerSelf: bool = false): p =
+  new result
+  result.peerInfo = peerInfo
+  result.triggerSelf = triggerSelf
+  result.initPubSub()