diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b514e5c6..71e14416 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     "test:browser": "SUPERSTRING_USE_BROWSER_VERSION=1 mocha test/js/*.js",
     "test": "npm run test:node && npm run test:browser",
     "benchmark": "node benchmark/marker-index.benchmark.js",
-    "prepublishOnly": "npm run build:browser",
+    "prepublishOnly": "git submodule update --init --recursive && npm run build:browser",
     "standard": "standard --recursive src test"
   },
   "repository": {