diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0f50c87..58a76c7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 <!-- - Create Github release with updated links from `doc/links.md` -->
 <!-- - `bb gh-pages` -->
 
+- [#55](https://github.com/babashka/babashka/issues/55): create gh-pages dir before using.
 - [#89](https://github.com/babashka/babashka/issues/89): allow `evaluate_script_tags` to specify individual scripts.
 - [#87](https://github.com/babashka/scittle/issues/87): prod build on fresh checkout fails
 
diff --git a/script/release.clj b/script/release.clj
index 5293fa9..3a1591b 100755
--- a/script/release.clj
+++ b/script/release.clj
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 (require '[babashka.fs :as fs]
          '[babashka.tasks :refer [shell]])
 
+(fs/create-dirs "gh-pages")
+
 (fs/copy "resources/public/index.html" "gh-pages"
          {:replace-existing true})