| name | publish-release |
| description | Prepare a book for Leanpub publication after a refresh. Use when the user says "publish", "release notes", "notify readers", "send to Leanpub", or wants to prepare the email notification for a new book edition. Updates the about page fields to reflect the latest manuscript content, then generates concise email-ready release notes to paste into Leanpub's "Notify Readers" form. |
| argument-hint | <slug> |
publish-release
When to use
Use this skill after /book-refresh <slug> has completed and the book is built. This skill does two things:
- Updates
about.md fields so they reflect the latest facts from the updated manuscript (the refresh cycle updates chapters and release notes but may leave the About section, teaser, and meta description with stale data).
- Generates email-ready release notes to paste into Leanpub's "Notify Readers" form.
Inputs
- Read
books/<NNN>-<slug>/about.md (all sections).
- Read
books/<NNN>-<slug>/metadata.yaml to get the edition date and book title.
- Read
books/<NNN>-<slug>/manuscript/00-frontmatter.md to get the latest key financial data and thesis language.
- Skim
books/<NNN>-<slug>/manuscript/04-<name>.md (the financials chapter) to pull the most current numbers.
Step 1: update about.md fields
The about page has these sections that may contain stale data after a refresh:
- About the Book (
## About the Book:): The main description paragraph. Check for outdated references like old quarter results ("Q3 2025"), old guidance figures ("guided to approximately X"), or old dates. Update to the latest actuals from the manuscript. Do NOT rewrite the whole description; only update the specific facts that are stale.
- Teaser text (
## Teaser text:): The one-liner that appears on the book's Leanpub page. Update the "current as of" date and any stale facts.
- Meta description (
## Meta description:): The SEO description. Update the "Current to" date and any stale facts.
- Table of contents HTML (
## Table of contents HTML:): Verify it matches the actual chapter titles in the manuscript. Only update if chapters were added, removed, or renamed.
- What's new in this edition (
## What's new in this edition): Already regenerated by book-refresh step 6. Do not touch unless it is clearly wrong.
Rules for updates:
- Only change facts that are stale. Do not rewrite for style.
- Pull numbers from the manuscript (frontmatter and financials chapter), not from memory or assumptions.
- Maintain the existing voice and tone.
- No em dashes, no edition numbering.
Step 2: generate Leanpub release notes email
The about page's "What's new" section is comprehensive and chapter-referenced. The Leanpub email needs to be shorter, punchier, and reader-facing. Transform it into an email that makes a reader want to update.
Rules:
- Lead with the edition date and a one-line hook.
- Group into three to five short bullets maximum. Merge related items.
- No chapter references (readers don't care about internal structure).
- No dollar signs on numbers; write "approximately 4.5 billion dollars" not "$4.5B".
- No jargon, no finding IDs, no HTML comments.
- Keep total length under 200 words. Leanpub emails work best when they're brief.
- End with a one-line call to action ("Update your copy to get the latest analysis.")
If the "What's new in this edition" section is empty or says something placeholder-like, stop and tell the user to run /book-refresh <slug> first.
Output
First, report what was updated in about.md (list the specific fields changed with before/after snippets).
Then print the release notes text to the conversation:
## Release notes to paste into Leanpub
<Month Year> edition of <Book Title>
<one-line hook>
<3-5 bullets>
<call to action>
After printing, remind the user:
- Copy the release notes text above.
- Copy updated fields from
about.md into the corresponding Leanpub settings fields (About the Book, Teaser text, Meta description, Table of contents).
- Go to Leanpub > your book > Notify Readers.
- Paste into the Release Notes field.
- Click "Notify your readers that your book has been updated."
- This sends an email and bell notification to all readers (unless they disabled it). Leanpub recommends doing this only once or twice a month.
Success criteria
- All stale facts in
about.md are updated to match the current manuscript.
- Release notes text is printed to conversation.
- Release notes are under 200 words with no chapter references, finding IDs, or HTML comments.
- Every bullet reflects a real change from the about page.
- The user has clear instructions for the manual Leanpub steps.
