diff --git a/.github/workflows/prepare-release.yml b/.github/workflows/prepare-release.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 95ed9f466ef..00000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/prepare-release.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-name: prepare-release
-on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - 'release/**'
-
-jobs:
-  build:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-
-    - name: Get the version
-      id: get_version
-      run: echo ::set-output name=VERSION::${GITHUB_REF/refs\/tags\//}
-
-    - name: Prepare the release
-      id: update
-      run: |
-        ./scripts/prepare_release.sh ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.VERSION }}
-
-    - name: Create Pull Request
-      id: create-pr
-      uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v2.7.0
-      with:
-        branch: ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.VERSION }}-auto
-        title: '[pre-release] Update changelogs, version [${{ steps.get_version.outputs.VERSION }}]'
-      if: ${{ steps.update.outputs.version_updated == 1 }}
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d4749dedbeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# Releasing OpenTelemetry Packages (for maintainers only)
+This document explains how to publish all OT modules at version x.y.z. Ensure that you’re following semver when choosing a version number.
+
+Release Process:
+* [Create a new branch](#create-a-new-branch)
+* [Open a Pull Request](#open-a-pull-request)
+* [Create a Release](#Create-a-Release)
+* [Move stable tag](#Move-stable-tag)
+* [Update master](#Update-master)
+* [Check PyPI](#Check-PyPI)
+* [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
+
+
+## Create a new branch
+The following script does the following:
+- update master locally
+- creates a new release branch `release/<version>`
+- updates version and changelog files
+- commits the change to a new branch `release/<version>-auto`
+
+*NOTE: This script was run by a GitHub Action but required the Action bot to be excluded from the CLA check, which it currently is not.*
+
+```bash
+./scripts/prepare_release.sh 0.7b0
+```
+
+## Open a Pull Request
+
+The PR should be opened from the `release/<version>-auto` branch created as part of running `prepare_release.sh` in the steps above.
+
+## Create a Release
+
+- Create the GH release from the release branch, using a new tag for this micro version, e.g. `v0.7.0`
+- Copy the changelogs from all packages that changed into the release notes (and reformat to remove hard line wraps)
+
+
+## Check PyPI
+
+This should be handled automatically on release by the [publish action](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/blob/master/.github/workflows/publish.yml).
+
+ - Check the [action logs](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/actions?query=workflow%3APublish) to make sure packages have been uploaded to PyPI
+- Check the release history (e.g. https://pypi.org/project/opentelemetry-api/#history) on PyPI
+
+If for some reason the action failed, see [Publish failed](#publish-failed) below
+
+## Move stable tag
+
+This will ensure the docs are pointing at the stable release.
+
+```bash
+git tag -d stable
+git tag stable
+git push origin stable
+```
+
+## Update master
+
+Ensure the version and changelog updates have been applied to master.
+
+```bash
+# checkout a new branch from master
+git checkout -b v0.7b0-master-update
+# cherry pick the change from the release branch
+git cherry-pick $(git log -n 1 origin/release/0.7b0 --format="%H")
+# update the version number, make it a "dev" greater than release number, e.g. 0.8.dev0
+perl -i -p -e 's/0.7b0/0.8.dev0/' $(git grep -l "0.7b0" | grep -vi CHANGELOG)
+# open a PR targeting master see #331
+git commit -m
+```
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### Publish failed
+
+If for some reason the action failed, do it manually:
+
+- To avoid pushing untracked changes, check out the repo in a new dir
+- Switch to the release branch (important so we don't publish packages with "dev" versions)
+- Build distributions with `./scripts/build.sh`
+- Delete distributions we don't want to push (e.g. `testutil`)
+- Push to PyPI as `twine upload --skip-existing --verbose dist/*`
+- Double check PyPI!
diff --git a/scripts/prepare_release.sh b/scripts/prepare_release.sh
index 73ee1410925..bf8eb3e9615 100755
--- a/scripts/prepare_release.sh
+++ b/scripts/prepare_release.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/bash -x
 #
 # This script:
 #   1. parses the version number from the branch name
@@ -72,10 +72,17 @@ function update_changelog() {
     fi
 }
 
+# create the release branch
+git checkout master
+git reset --hard origin/master
+git checkout -b release/${VERSION}
+git push origin release/${VERSION}
+
+# create a temporary branch to create a PR for updated version and changelogs
+git checkout -b release/${VERSION}-auto
 update_version_file
 update_changelog
-
-git config --local user.email "action@github.com"
-git config --local user.name "GitHub Action"
 git commit -m "updating changelogs and version to ${VERSION}"
-echo "::set-output name=version_updated::1"
+
+echo "Time to create a release, here's a sample title:"
+echo "[pre-release] Update changelogs, version [${VERSION}]"