diff --git a/src/fix_tei.py b/src/fix_tei.py
index 5dcd820..84fb441 100755
--- a/src/fix_tei.py
+++ b/src/fix_tei.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 import pickle
 import subprocess
 from lxml import etree
-from datetime import datetime
+import datetime
 import bibtexparser
 import argparse
 import traceback
@@ -467,7 +467,9 @@ def fix_tei_header(xml_tree, bibfile_string, bibtype):
     edition_date = edition.find("t:date", namespaces=NS_MAP)
     edition_date.clear()
     edition_date.tag = "tagtobestripped"
-    edition.text = "First published {} by {}".format(datetime.now().strftime("%Y"), BOILERPLATES.get("Header","eoa_name"))
+    # projecting release date half a year from begin of production
+    publication_date = datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(days=180)
+    edition.text = "First published {} by {}".format(publication_date.strftime("%Y"), BOILERPLATES.get("Header","eoa_name"))
 
     publication_statement = xml_tree.xpath("//t:publicationStmt", namespaces=NS_MAP)[0]
     unknown_paragraph = publication_statement.find("t:p", namespaces=NS_MAP)
@@ -487,7 +489,7 @@ def fix_tei_header(xml_tree, bibfile_string, bibtype):
     publishing_org = etree.SubElement(publisher_element, "orgName", n="Press", ref=BOILERPLATES.get("Header","mprl_url"))
     publishing_org.text = BOILERPLATES.get("Header","mprl_name")
 
-    pub_date = etree.SubElement(publication_statement, "date", when=datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))
+    pub_date = etree.SubElement(publication_statement, "date", when=publication_date.strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))
     availability = etree.SubElement(publication_statement, "availability")
     licence = etree.SubElement(availability, "licence", target=BOILERPLATES.get("Header","licence_url"))
     licence.text = BOILERPLATES.get("Header","licence_text")