diff --git a/skills/cutting-releases/SKILL.md b/skills/cutting-releases/SKILL.md
index 2d9cdd30b..45f0d8dae 100644
--- a/skills/cutting-releases/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/cutting-releases/SKILL.md
@@ -80,10 +80,10 @@ these from the changelog anyway.
 Build the tag message:
 
 - **Line 1 (subject):** The custom title from step 4, if one was given.
-  If no custom title, **omit the subject line** — start the annotation
-  body directly with the highlights. This avoids duplicating the version
-  in the release title.
-- **Lines 3+:** Summary of highlights organized by category.
+  If no custom title, **line 1 must be blank** — GoReleaser reads the
+  first non-empty line as `.TagSubject` regardless of intent, so a blank
+  first line ensures the release title is just the tag with no suffix.
+- **Lines 2+:** Summary of highlights organized by category.
 
 ```
 git tag -a v0.X.0 -m "<message>"