diff --git a/ros2topic/ros2topic/api/__init__.py b/ros2topic/ros2topic/api/__init__.py
index ed9cf4c45..c9688071c 100644
--- a/ros2topic/ros2topic/api/__init__.py
+++ b/ros2topic/ros2topic/api/__init__.py
@@ -157,13 +157,11 @@ def __call__(self, prefix, parsed_args, **kwargs):
         return [message_to_yaml(message())]
 
 
-def qos_profile_from_short_keys(
-    preset_profile: str, reliability: str = None, durability: str = None,
-    depth: Optional[int] = None, history: str = None,
+def profile_configure_short_keys(
+    profile: rclpy.qos.QoSProfile = None, reliability: str = None,
+    durability: str = None, depth: Optional[int] = None, history: str = None,
 ) -> rclpy.qos.QoSProfile:
-    """Construct a QoSProfile given the name of a preset, and optional overrides."""
-    # Build a QoS profile based on user-supplied arguments
-    profile = rclpy.qos.QoSPresetProfiles.get_from_short_key(preset_profile)
+    """Configure a QoSProfile given a profile, and optional overrides."""
     if history:
         profile.history = rclpy.qos.QoSHistoryPolicy.get_from_short_key(history)
     if durability:
@@ -176,4 +174,14 @@ def qos_profile_from_short_keys(
         if (profile.durability == rclpy.qos.QoSDurabilityPolicy.TRANSIENT_LOCAL
                 and profile.depth == 0):
             profile.depth = 1
+
+
+def qos_profile_from_short_keys(
+    preset_profile: str, reliability: str = None, durability: str = None,
+    depth: Optional[int] = None, history: str = None,
+) -> rclpy.qos.QoSProfile:
+    """Construct a QoSProfile given the name of a preset, and optional overrides."""
+    # Build a QoS profile based on user-supplied arguments
+    profile = rclpy.qos.QoSPresetProfiles.get_from_short_key(preset_profile)
+    profile_configure_short_keys(profile, reliability, durability, depth, history)
     return profile
diff --git a/ros2topic/ros2topic/verb/pub.py b/ros2topic/ros2topic/verb/pub.py
index 7a1bc680f..7a05f030a 100644
--- a/ros2topic/ros2topic/verb/pub.py
+++ b/ros2topic/ros2topic/verb/pub.py
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@
 
 import rclpy
 from rclpy.node import Node
+from rclpy.qos import QoSDurabilityPolicy
 from rclpy.qos import QoSProfile
+from rclpy.qos import QoSReliabilityPolicy
 from ros2cli.node.direct import DirectNode
-from ros2topic.api import qos_profile_from_short_keys
+from ros2topic.api import profile_configure_short_keys
 from ros2topic.api import TopicMessagePrototypeCompleter
 from ros2topic.api import TopicNameCompleter
 from ros2topic.api import TopicTypeCompleter
@@ -30,7 +32,6 @@
 import yaml
 
 MsgType = TypeVar('MsgType')
-default_profile_str = 'system_default'
 
 
 def nonnegative_int(inval):
@@ -49,6 +50,13 @@ def positive_float(inval):
     return ret
 
 
+def get_pub_qos_profile():
+    return QoSProfile(
+        reliability=QoSReliabilityPolicy.RELIABLE,
+        durability=QoSDurabilityPolicy.TRANSIENT_LOCAL,
+        depth=1)
+
+
 class PubVerb(VerbExtension):
     """Publish a message to a topic."""
 
@@ -98,11 +106,8 @@ def add_arguments(self, parser, cli_name):
         parser.add_argument(
             '--qos-profile',
             choices=rclpy.qos.QoSPresetProfiles.short_keys(),
-            default=default_profile_str,
-            help='Quality of service preset profile to {} with (default: {})'
-                 .format('publish', default_profile_str))
-        default_profile = rclpy.qos.QoSPresetProfiles.get_from_short_key(
-            default_profile_str)
+            help='Quality of service preset profile to publish)')
+        default_profile = get_pub_qos_profile()
         parser.add_argument(
             '--qos-depth', metavar='N', type=int, default=-1,
             help='Queue size setting to publish with '
@@ -131,17 +136,19 @@ def main(self, *, args):
 
 
 def main(args):
+    qos_profile = get_pub_qos_profile()
 
     qos_profile_name = args.qos_profile
-    if not qos_profile_name:
-        qos_profile_name = default_profile_str
+    if qos_profile_name:
+        qos_profile = rclpy.qos.QoSPresetProfiles.get_from_short_key(qos_profile_name)
+    profile_configure_short_keys(
+        qos_profile, args.qos_reliability, args.qos_durability,
+        args.qos_depth, args.qos_history)
 
-    qos_profile = qos_profile_from_short_keys(
-        qos_profile_name, reliability=args.qos_reliability, durability=args.qos_durability,
-        depth=args.qos_depth, history=args.qos_history)
     times = args.times
     if args.once:
         times = 1
+
     with DirectNode(args, node_name=args.node_name) as node:
         return publisher(
             node.node,