diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a5778ba..b08b309 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ## HEAD (unreleased)
 
+## 3.0.0.rc1 (6th July 2023)
+
 Authors: Keith Bennett, doits, jstoks, merringtion, thirunjuguna
 
 * fix: exclude bin directory from gem #181
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5f57aed..d7c9aa3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Please also see the [Wiki](https://github.com/krisleech/wisper/wiki) for more ad
 Add this line to your application's Gemfile:
 
 ```ruby
-gem 'wisper', '2.0.0'
+gem 'wisper', '~3.0'
 ```
 
 ## Usage
diff --git a/lib/wisper/version.rb b/lib/wisper/version.rb
index 87a71f2..649a746 100644
--- a/lib/wisper/version.rb
+++ b/lib/wisper/version.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 module Wisper
-  VERSION = "2.0.1"
+  VERSION = "3.0.0.rc1"
 end