You had the idea, wrote the query, got the assignment, negotiated the contract, worked out a deadline and did the research. Now all that’s left is interviewing the source.

What’s that, the source won’t answer your email or phone calls? Don’t they realize what you’ve had to do to get this far?

Unfortunately, just because you need to talk to a source doesn’t mean that they need to talk to you. They’re busy, they’re press shy, they’re grouchy, they’ve been warned by counsel or their media relations staff not to speak to the press.

That’s when you need to use your writer’s ingenuity to figure out how to get a reluctant source to talk anyway – or how to salvage a story if they won’t.

(If you’re a source of mine, feel free to stop reading at this point.)

If and when you run into an uncooperative source, do a quick gut check or touch base with your editor. Do you really need that specific source? Or would another person, company or expert with the same credentials, background or situation suffice?

If you need a particular source who’s yet to open up, here are my top 10 secrets to getting somebody to talk:

1. Send questions via email. If a source won’t make time to talk on the phone maybe they’ll respond to written answers. It’s not the best way to go but at least you’ll have something. These days, try Twitter too – somebody who won’t sit for an interview might be OK answer questions 140 characters at a time.

2. Find out if someone else is available. Worst case scenario: talk to an organization’s spokesperson.

3. Do an end run around gatekeepers. Sometimes the source you’re trying to reach doesn’t know about your request because their secretary, PR department, spouse or some other handler hasn’t told them. In those situations, search online, in phone books or elsewhere for a direct number or email address you can use to directly plead your case.

4. Call at odd hours. If you need to talk to an executive or business owner, call before or after hours when chances are good secretaries and receptionists aren’t there and the head honcho will pick up the phone themselves.

5. Investigate association or board affiliations. Websites for professional organizations often list names, bios and contact information for their board members.

6. Go where they’ll be. They may avoid your calls, but they can’t avoid you if you show up at their monthly Rotary Club lunch or annual industry trade show. You might only get a line or two or a “No comment” but it’s better than nothing.

7. Talk to friends or business partners. If your story has to do with something a person or company did, bought or sold, find one of their friends, colleagues or business partners and get the details from them. Then contact your source again and ask them to confirm the facts.

8. Check what’s already been written. Look online for previous articles, white papers, analyst write ups or case studies about the source, their organization or company. That way even if you end up not getting an interview, you’ll have some background – just make sure you include an attribution to the original source.

9. Search social networks. Look on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook to find out if your source hangs out there. If they do, ask them then and there to answer your questions. Or let your network know that you’re trolling for Ms. ABC or XYZ Company to talk to. Or put out a general call for help.

10. Be empathetic. Sometimes, especially if you’re dealing with someone who’s never been interviewed before, all they might need is a little coaxing and an explanation of how things work – what information you’re after, what on the record means, etc. – to feel comfortable enough to talk.

What techniques do you use to get reluctant sources to talk?

Do you know HARO?

If you don’t, it might be time to get acquainted. HARO stands for “If I Can Help A Reporter Out.” It was started by a PR guy and networking maven named Peter Shankman as a place reporters can turn to when they’re stuck for sources. Shankman started it as an alternative to ProfNet, which some writers have complained has grown so big the sources it nets aren’t relevant.

For reporters, HARO is easy. You don’t even need to register. Just go to the “Reporter” side of the service, fill out the request form and click “Submit it.” Your query will be included in an emailing of multiple requests for sources that Shankman sends out several times a day to a list of more than 23,000 PR representatives, company executives and other sources.

I’d heard a lot about HARO in recent months but didn’t give it a try until last week when I was hurting for sources for an IT industry story for IncTechnology.com that I was writing at the last minute. So I took the plunge and submitted a HARO request. Within 24 hours, I got about 40+ responses from PR reps, IT consultants and company presidents, etc. By the end of day two, I’d received close to 60.

HARO isn’t just for tech stories. I have freelance friends who write about all kinds of things, from green living to parenting to finance, and they all use it and rave about it. And they’ve been able to track down the hardest sources of all to get – real people.

HARO has grown so popular so quickly, it’s now got some of the same problems that plagued other source-finding services, namely too many off-topic responses, which you can read more about in this post about it on The Renegade Writer blog. Get around that by making sure your queries are as specific as possible. And state up front that people won’t hear from you unless you’re interested in using them.

If you decide to give it a try, I’ve got one more piece of advice: since HARO can result in inquiries from many more sources than you could possibly use, when you fill out the query registration form, give a very short time frame for people to get back to you, such as in 24 yours or less. Otherwise you could get bombarded.

And if you’re a PR person, read these great do’s and don’ts from Susan Johnston’s The Urban Muse blog about using HARO to pitch story ideas to writers.