diff --git a/setup/publish.py b/setup/publish.py
index ef2e2c5c53..a84ca654cd 100644
--- a/setup/publish.py
+++ b/setup/publish.py
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ class PublishBetas(Command):
 
     def pre_sub_commands(self, opts):
         require_clean_git()
-        require_git_master()
+        # require_git_master()
 
     def run(self, opts):
         dist = self.a(self.j(self.d(self.SRC), 'dist'))
diff --git a/src/calibre/constants.py b/src/calibre/constants.py
index e718f3b6d2..94e1799c3a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/constants.py
+++ b/src/calibre/constants.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from polyglot.builtins import map, unicode_type, environ_item, hasenv, getenv
 import sys, locale, codecs, os, importlib, collections
 
 __appname__   = 'calibre'
-numeric_version = (3, 48, 0)
+numeric_version = (3, 99, 0)
 __version__   = '.'.join(map(unicode_type, numeric_version))
 git_version   = None
 __author__    = "Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>"