diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f677f6739..9fb8d1f37 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@
     "build": "rollup -c profiles/debug.js & rollup -c profiles/production.js",
     "lint": "semistandard | snazzy",
     "prebuild": "mkdirp dist",
-    "prepare": "npm run build",
     "pretest": "npm run build",
     "precommit": "npm run lint",
     "fix": "semistandard --fix",
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index af5df9c4d..ed62b726e 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -29,10 +29,10 @@ zip -r $NAME-v$VERSION.zip dist
 # run gh-release to create the tag and push release to github
 gh-release --assets $NAME-v$VERSION.zip
 
+# publish release on NPM
+npm publish
+
 # checkout master and delete release branch locally and on GitHub
 git checkout master
 git branch -D gh-release
 git push https://github.com/Esri/esri-leaflet :gh-release
-
-# publish release on NPM
-npm publish