diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index b13d201..0e5b4c2 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - A global `publish` flag is available to all files which allows to exclude
   some things from rendering when testing the site locally (e.g. analytics
   scripts)
+- Only writing the meta file when called with `--publish`
 - Always generate all the output files and compare them with what already
   exists in the target directory. This makes `--force` obsolete, hence it was
   removed.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cf09b7f..2398d13 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -104,6 +104,9 @@ The model of each item that is passed to Mustache for rendering looks like this:
     active     : true // if this file is currently rendered, otherwise false
   },
 
+  // True if blogdown was called with --publish, otherwise false
+  publish      : true,
+
   // Markdown:
   md           : '<p>parsed from markdown</p>',
 
diff --git a/lib/blogdown.js b/lib/blogdown.js
index 72ba0ee..db9a59f 100644
--- a/lib/blogdown.js
+++ b/lib/blogdown.js
@@ -40,10 +40,12 @@ module.exports = function (source, target, options, callback) {
             writer.write(files, target, function (err) {
               if (err) {
                 callback(err);
-              } else {
+              } else if (metaOptions.publish) {
                 meta.persist(metaResult.meta, metaOptions, function (err) {
                   callback(err, { files : files.length });
                 });
+              } else {
+                callback(null, { files : files.length });
               }
             });
             if (metaResult.deleted.length) {
diff --git a/test/blogdown-test.js b/test/blogdown-test.js
index 159ff1f..7da6932 100644
--- a/test/blogdown-test.js
+++ b/test/blogdown-test.js
@@ -245,6 +245,7 @@ test('blogdown', {
     });
     renderer.render.returns([]);
     writer.write.yields();
+    this.options.meta = { publish : true };
 
     blogdown('source', 'target', this.options, function () {});
 
@@ -258,7 +259,7 @@ test('blogdown', {
     meta.update.yields(null, EMPTY_META_RESULT);
     renderer.render.returns([]);
     writer.write.yields();
-    this.options.meta = { file : 'other.meta' };
+    this.options.meta = { file : 'other.meta', publish : true };
 
     blogdown('source', 'target', this.options, function () {});
 
@@ -272,6 +273,7 @@ test('blogdown', {
     meta.update.yields(null, EMPTY_META_RESULT);
     renderer.render.returns([]);
     writer.write.yields();
+    this.options.meta = { publish : true };
     var spy = sinon.spy();
 
     blogdown('source', 'target', this.options, spy);
@@ -284,6 +286,20 @@ test('blogdown', {
   },
 
 
+  'yields without persisting if publish is false': function () {
+    reader.read.yields(null, { items : [] });
+    meta.update.yields(null, EMPTY_META_RESULT);
+    renderer.render.returns([]);
+    writer.write.yields();
+    var spy = sinon.spy();
+
+    blogdown('source', 'target', this.options, spy);
+
+    sinon.assert.notCalled(meta.persist);
+    sinon.assert.calledOnce(spy);
+  },
+
+
   'logs files that may be deleted': sinon.test(function () {
     this.stub(console, 'warn');
     reader.read.yields(null, { items : [] });