diff --git a/docs/release-and-distribution.md b/docs/release-and-distribution.md
index 71cea0f..3087ba8 100644
--- a/docs/release-and-distribution.md
+++ b/docs/release-and-distribution.md
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ The package version appears in:
 Update the first two, then refresh the lock file with uv. Do not edit a
 line-number-specific location in `uv.lock`; its package order changes.
 
+Before choosing a version, verify it is absent from git tags, GitHub Releases,
+and PyPI. An unpublished remote tag still reserves that version; never move it,
+publish the next version instead.
+
 ## Publish flow
 
 PyPI publishing is triggered by a published GitHub Release, not by a tag push
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b6f074d..cfe3b29 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # on it, including the ComfyUI node package. The console script below carries
 # the same weight, since users have it on PATH.
 name = "remove-ai-watermarks"
-version = "0.33.1"
+version = "0.34.0"
 description = "AI watermark remover for visible, invisible, and provenance marks in images and video"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.11,<3.15"
diff --git a/src/remove_ai_watermarks/__init__.py b/src/remove_ai_watermarks/__init__.py
index 9989128..ffd7f66 100644
--- a/src/remove_ai_watermarks/__init__.py
+++ b/src/remove_ai_watermarks/__init__.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ _os.environ.setdefault("TRANSFORMERS_VERBOSITY", "error")
 _warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", message=r".*ImageProcessorFast.*")
 
 
-__version__ = "0.33.1"
+__version__ = "0.34.0"
 
 __all__ = [
     "BatchSummary",
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 607ad09..74c86d7 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -3169,7 +3169,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "remove-ai-watermarks"
-version = "0.33.1"
+version = "0.34.0"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "c2pa-python" },