diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 684036c58..86ad18a8f 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -27,9 +27,12 @@ Breaking changes queued for v2.0.0 (Not yet released)
 * ``make_iterator()`` improvements for better compatibility with various types
   (now uses prefix increment operator)
 * ``arg()`` now accepts a wider range of argument types for default values
+* Various minor improvements of library internals (no user-visible changes)
+
+1.8.1 (July 12, 2016)
+----------------------
 * Fixed a rare but potentially very severe issue when the garbage collector ran
   during pybind11 type creation.
-* Various minor improvements of library internals (no user-visible changes)
 
 1.8.0 (June 14, 2016)
 ----------------------
diff --git a/docs/release.rst b/docs/release.rst
index 43934ecf3..a15504ea8 100644
--- a/docs/release.rst
+++ b/docs/release.rst
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ To release a new version of pybind11:
     - Update version in ``docs/conf.py``
     - Tag release date in ``docs/changelog.rst``.
     - ``git add`` and ``git commit``.
-    - ``git tag -a vX.Y -m 'vX.Y release'``.
+    - if new minor version: ``git checkout -b vX.Y``, ``git push -u origin vX.Y``
+    - ``git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m 'vX.Y.Z release'``.
     - ``git push``
     - ``git push --tags``.
     - ``python setup.py sdist upload``.
diff --git a/include/pybind11/common.h b/include/pybind11/common.h
index 7bbb31f1d..1a734d4f9 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/common.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/common.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 #define PYBIND11_VERSION_MAJOR 1
 #define PYBIND11_VERSION_MINOR 9
+#define PYBIND11_VERSION_PATCH dev0
 
 /// Include Python header, disable linking to pythonX_d.lib on Windows in debug mode
 #if defined(_MSC_VER)