diff --git a/HOWTO_RELEASE.md b/HOWTO_RELEASE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cc0f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/HOWTO_RELEASE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+How to issue a salem release.
+
+1. Ensure your master branch is synced to upstream:
+       git pull upstream master
+ 2. Look over whats-new.rst and the docs. Make sure "What's New" is complete
+    (check the date!) and add a brief summary note describing the release at the
+    top.
+ 3. If you have any doubts, run the full test suite one final time!
+      pytest --mpl .
+ 4. On the master branch, commit the release in git:
+      git commit -a -m 'Release v0.X.Y'
+ 5. Tag the release:
+      git tag -a v0.X.Y -m 'v0.X.Y'
+ 6. Build source and binary wheels for pypi:
+      git clean -xdf  # this deletes all uncommited changes!
+      python setup.py bdist_wheel sdist
+ 7. Use twine to register and upload the release on pypi. Be careful, you can't
+    take this back!
+      twine upload dist/salem-0.X.Y*
+    You will need to be listed as a package owner at
+    https://pypi.python.org/pypi/salem for this to work.
+ 8. Push your changes to master:
+      git push upstream master
+      git push upstream --tags
+ 9. Update the stable branch (used by ReadTheDocs) and switch back to master:
+      git checkout stable
+      git rebase master
+      git push upstream stable
+      git checkout master
+    It's OK to force push to 'stable' if necessary.
+    We also update the stable branch with `git cherrypick` for documentation
+    only fixes that apply the current released version.
+10. Add a section for the next release (v.X.(Y+1)) to doc/whats-new.rst.
+11. Commit your changes and push to master again:
+      git commit -a -m 'Revert to dev version'
+      git push upstream master
+    You're done pushing to master!
+12. Issue the release on GitHub. Click on "Draft a new release" at
+    https://github.com/fmaussion/salem/releases. Type in the version number, but
+    don't bother to describe it -- we maintain that on the docs instead.
+13. Update the docs. Login to https://readthedocs.org/projects/salem/versions/
+    and switch your new release tag (at the bottom) from "Inactive" to "Active".
+    It should now build automatically.
+14. Issue the release announcement!
diff --git a/docs/whats-new.rst b/docs/whats-new.rst
index 07c3202..b39bbdc 100644
--- a/docs/whats-new.rst
+++ b/docs/whats-new.rst
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 What's New
 ==========
 
-
 v0.2.3 (06 January 2019)
 ------------------------