diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1651c486..18b75c91 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -35,15 +35,38 @@ Please test carefully and report any unexpected problems, thank you! 🙏
 
 ---
 
+# `v3.4.0-beta1` (2023-09-26)
+
+> 📦 [Available on Clojars](https://clojars.org/com.taoensso/nippy/versions/3.4.0-beta1)
+
+This is a non-breaking **feature** pre-release.  
+Please **test carefully and report any unexpected problems**, thank you! 🙏
+
+## New since `v3.3.0-RC2`
+
+* 6ad5aeb [new] Add `:zstd` compressor, new (faster) compressor backend, better docstrings
+* fb6f75e [new] Smarter, faster, protocol-based `freezable?` util
+* f3ff7ae [new] Add native `MapEntry` freezer
+* fef079d [new] Add subvec to stress data
+* Misc internal improvements
+
+## Other improvements since `v3.3.0-RC2`
+
+* e0cd003 [nop] Update docs
+* 99970d5 [nop] Update benchmark results
+* bcf7673 [nop] Move benchmarks ns under tests dir
+
+---
+
 # `v3.3.0-RC2` (2023-09-25)
 
-> 📦 [Available on Clojars](https://clojars.org/com.taoensso/nippy/versions/3.3.3-RC2)
+> 📦 [Available on Clojars](https://clojars.org/com.taoensso/nippy/versions/3.3.0-RC2)
 
 Identical to `v3.3.0-RC1` except:
 
-- Improves some docstrings
-- Improves generative unit tests
-- Updates internal dependencies
+* Improves some docstrings
+* Improves generative unit tests
+* Updates internal dependencies
 
 If no unexpected problems come up, `v3.3.0` final is planned for release by the end of September.
 
@@ -51,10 +74,10 @@ If no unexpected problems come up, `v3.3.0` final is planned for release by the
 
 # `v3.3.0-RC1` (2023-08-02)
 
-> 📦 [Available on Clojars](https://clojars.org/com.taoensso/nippy/versions/3.3.3-RC1)
+> 📦 [Available on Clojars](https://clojars.org/com.taoensso/nippy/versions/3.3.0-RC1)
 
 This is a non-breaking **feature and maintenance** pre-release.  
-Please test carefully and report any unexpected problems, thank you! 🙏
+Please **test carefully and report any unexpected problems**, thank you! 🙏
 
 ## Fixes since `v3.2.0`
 
@@ -290,4 +313,4 @@ Likely breaking. Please see [#130] for **detailed upgrade instructions**.
 
 # Earlier releases
 
-See [here](https://github.com/taoensso/nippy/releases) for earlier releases.
\ No newline at end of file
+See [here](https://github.com/taoensso/nippy/releases) for earlier releases.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 143bd8cb..b8d4a1c7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ Used by [Carmine](https://www.taoensso.com/carmine), [Faraday](https://www.taoen
 
 ## Latest release/s
 
-- `2023-09-25` `3.3.0` (stable): [changes](../../releases/tag/v3.3.0)
+- `2023-10-11` `3.3.0` (stable): [changes](../../releases/tag/v3.3.0)
+- `2023-09-26` `3.4.0-beta1` (dev): [changes](../../releases/tag/v3.4.0-beta1)
 
 [![Main tests][Main tests SVG]][Main tests URL]
 [![Graal tests][Graal tests SVG]][Graal tests URL]
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ See [here][GitHub releases] for earlier releases.
 - **Robust test suite**, incl. full coverage for every supported type
 - Auto fallback to Java Serializable when available
 - Auto fallback to Clojure Reader for all other types (including tagged literals
-- Pluggable **compression** with built-in [LZ4](https://code.google.com/p/lz4/)
+- Pluggable **compression** with built-in [LZ4](https://code.google.com/p/lz4/), [Zstandard](https://facebook.github.io/zstd/), etc.
 - Pluggable [encryption](../../wiki/1-Getting-started#encryption) with built-in AES128
 - [Tools](https://taoensso.github.io/nippy/taoensso.nippy.tools.html) for easy + robust **integration into 3rd-party libraries**, etc.
 - Powerful [thaw transducer](https://taoensso.github.io/nippy/taoensso.nippy.html#var-*thaw-xform*) for flexible data inspection and transformation
diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index 0b9f3ede..47102929 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "3.3.0"
+(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "3.4.0-beta1"
   :author "Peter Taoussanis <https://www.taoensso.com>"
   :description "The fastest serialization library for Clojure"
   :url "https://github.com/taoensso/nippy"