diff --git a/lib/lifecycles/tag.js b/lib/lifecycles/tag.js
index fc41acbb6..f59aedf1c 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycles/tag.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycles/tag.js
@@ -27,12 +27,14 @@ function execTag (newVersion, pkgPrivate, args) {
   return runExec(args, 'git tag ' + tagOption + args.tagPrefix + newVersion + ' -m "' + formatCommitMessage(args.message, newVersion) + '"')
     .then(() => {
       var message = 'git push --follow-tags origin master'
-      if (pkgPrivate !== true) message += ' && npm publish'
-      if (args.prerelease !== undefined) {
-        if (args.prerelease === '') {
-          message += ' --tag prerelease'
-        } else {
-          message += ' --tag ' + args.prerelease
+      if (pkgPrivate !== true) {
+        message += ' && npm publish'
+        if (args.prerelease !== undefined) {
+          if (args.prerelease === '') {
+            message += ' --tag prerelease'
+          } else {
+            message += ' --tag ' + args.prerelease
+          }
         }
       }
 
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index ec891f9a8..158e181b1 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -440,6 +440,14 @@ describe('cli', function () {
       commit('feat: first commit')
       execCli('--prerelease alpha').stdout.should.include('--tag alpha')
     })
+
+    it('does not advise use of --tag prerelease for private modules', function () {
+      writePackageJson('1.0.0', { private: true })
+      fs.writeFileSync('CHANGELOG.md', 'legacy header format<a name="1.0.0">\n', 'utf-8')
+
+      commit('feat: first commit')
+      execCli('--prerelease').stdout.should.not.include('--tag prerelease')
+    })
   })
 
   describe('manual-release', function () {