diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 8a9bff9..d973031 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ inputs:
       Not applicable to `calver` scheme
     required: false
     default: 'patch'
+  release_branch:
+    description: "Specify a non-main branch to use for the release tag (the one without -prerelease). If empty, will use the default branch for the repo."
+    required:
+    type: string
 
 outputs:
   current-version:
@@ -75,3 +79,4 @@ runs:
         increment: ${{ inputs.increment }}
         pep440: ${{ inputs.pep440 }}
         scheme: ${{ inputs.scheme }}
+        release_branch: ${{ inputs.release_branch }}
diff --git a/version-increment.sh b/version-increment.sh
index e3ac75d..b128562 100755
--- a/version-increment.sh
+++ b/version-increment.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ default_branch='main'
 if [[ -z "${BATS_VERSION:-}" ]] ; then
     default_branch="$(git remote show origin | ${grep} 'HEAD branch' | cut -d ' ' -f 5)"
 fi
+# use release_branch if not empty
+if [[ -n "${release_branch}" ]] ; then
+    default_branch="${release_branch}" 
+fi
+
 current_ref="${GITHUB_REF:-}"
 git_commit="$(git rev-parse --short HEAD | sed 's/0*//')"  # trim leading zeros, because semver doesn't allow that in
                                                            # the 'pre-release version' part, but we can't use the + char