diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index f3278b32..e190b44f 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -104,8 +104,15 @@ export interface GossipsubOpts extends GossipsubOptsSpec, PubSubInit {
    * reportMessageValidationResult() after the message is dropped from mcache won't forward the message.
    */
   asyncValidation: boolean
-  /** Do not throw `InsufficientPeers` error if publishing to zero peers */
-  allowPublishToZeroPeers: boolean
+  /**
+   * Do not throw `PublishError.NoPeersSubscribedToTopic` error if there are no
+   * peers listening on the topic.
+   *
+   * N.B. if you sent this option to true, and you publish a message on a topic
+   * with no peers listening on that topic, no other network node will ever
+   * receive the message.
+   */
+  allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers: boolean
   /** Do not throw `PublishError.Duplicate` if publishing duplicate messages */
   ignoreDuplicatePublishError: boolean
   /** For a single stream, await processing each RPC before processing the next */
@@ -2095,10 +2102,10 @@ export class GossipSub extends TypedEventEmitter<GossipsubEvents> implements Pub
     const willSendToSelf = this.opts.emitSelf && this.subscriptions.has(topic)
 
     // Current publish opt takes precedence global opts, while preserving false value
-    const allowPublishToZeroPeers = opts?.allowPublishToZeroPeers ?? this.opts.allowPublishToZeroPeers
+    const allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers = opts?.allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers ?? this.opts.allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers
 
-    if (tosend.size === 0 && !allowPublishToZeroPeers && !willSendToSelf) {
-      throw Error('PublishError.InsufficientPeers')
+    if (tosend.size === 0 && !allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers && !willSendToSelf) {
+      throw Error('PublishError.NoPeersSubscribedToTopic')
     }
 
     // If the message isn't a duplicate and we have sent it to some peers add it to the
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index c1c623c4..1dca09b2 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,15 @@ export enum SignaturePolicy {
 }
 
 export interface PublishOpts {
-  allowPublishToZeroPeers?: boolean
+  /**
+   * Do not throw `PublishError.NoPeersSubscribedToTopic` error if there are no
+   * peers listening on the topic.
+   *
+   * N.B. if you sent this option to true, and you publish a message on a topic
+   * with no peers listening on that topic, no other network node will ever
+   * receive the message.
+   */
+  allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers?: boolean
   ignoreDuplicatePublishError?: boolean
   /** serialize message once and send to all peers without control messages */
   batchPublish?: boolean
diff --git a/test/2-nodes.spec.ts b/test/2-nodes.spec.ts
index 97a710a9..82a3d9df 100644
--- a/test/2-nodes.spec.ts
+++ b/test/2-nodes.spec.ts
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ describe('2 nodes', () => {
     // Create pubsub nodes
     beforeEach(async () => {
       mockNetwork.reset()
-      nodes = await createComponentsArray({ number: 2, init: { allowPublishToZeroPeers: true } })
+      nodes = await createComponentsArray({ number: 2, init: { allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers: true } })
       await connectAllPubSubNodes(nodes)
 
       // Create subscriptions
diff --git a/test/compliance.spec.ts b/test/compliance.spec.ts
index 5e3da4d4..d5e364ac 100644
--- a/test/compliance.spec.ts
+++ b/test/compliance.spec.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ describe.skip('interface compliance', function () {
           ...args.init,
           // libp2p-interfaces-compliance-tests in test 'can subscribe and unsubscribe correctly' publishes to no peers
           // Disable check to allow passing tests
-          allowPublishToZeroPeers: true
+          allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers: true
         }
       )
 
diff --git a/test/gossip.spec.ts b/test/gossip.spec.ts
index 9a34a4ce..73011bb9 100644
--- a/test/gossip.spec.ts
+++ b/test/gossip.spec.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ describe('gossip', () => {
           IPColocationFactorThreshold: GossipsubDhi + 3
         },
         maxInboundDataLength: 4000000,
-        allowPublishToZeroPeers: false
+        allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers: false
       }
     })
   })
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ describe('gossip', () => {
     const topic = 'Z'
 
     const publishResult = await nodeA.pubsub.publish(topic, uint8ArrayFromString('hey'), {
-      allowPublishToZeroPeers: true
+      allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers: true
     })
 
     // gossip happens during the heartbeat