diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 7aba2832..510c6145 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 2017-08-22  Jay Berkenbilt  <ejb@ql.org>
 
+	* 7.0.b1: release
+
 	* Convert all README files to markdown. Names changed as follows:
 	  - README --> README.md
 	  - README.hardening --> README-hardening.md
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 0d75b665..51ef10f5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 dnl This config.in requires autoconf 2.5 or greater.
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.68])
-AC_INIT([qpdf],[6.0.0])
+AC_INIT([qpdf],[7.0.b1])
 
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([autoconf.mk])
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ LT_INIT([win32-dll])
 # * Otherwise, increment LT_REVISION
 
 # LT = libtool
-LT_CURRENT=17
+LT_CURRENT=18
 LT_REVISION=0
 LT_AGE=0
 AC_SUBST(LT_CURRENT)
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
index 3cfb9a34..27efdd55 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #include <qpdf/QPDF_Null.hh>
 #include <qpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.hh>
 
-std::string QPDF::qpdf_version = "6.0.0";
+std::string QPDF::qpdf_version = "7.0.b1";
 
 static char const* EMPTY_PDF =
     "%PDF-1.3\n"
diff --git a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
index 8d6fce6a..5c27db10 100644
--- a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
+++ b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 <!ENTITY mdash "&#x2014;">
 <!ENTITY ndash "&#x2013;">
 <!ENTITY nbsp "&#xA0;">
-<!ENTITY swversion "6.0.0">
-<!ENTITY lastreleased "November 10, 2015">
+<!ENTITY swversion "7.0.b1">
+<!ENTITY lastreleased "August 22, 2017">
 ]>
 <book>
  <bookinfo>