diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES b/RELEASE_NOTES
index c544a63..68ba9fb 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+esper 3.1
+=========
+Maintenance release
+
+Changes
+-------
+- modernization of build process
+
+
 esper 3.0
 =========
 Major release
diff --git a/esper/__init__.py b/esper/__init__.py
index 0e222c9..3c02679 100644
--- a/esper/__init__.py
+++ b/esper/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""esper is an Entity Component System library.
+"""esper is a lightweight Entity System (ECS) for Python, with a focus on performance
 
 More information is available at https://github.com/benmoran56/esper
 """
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 from itertools import count as _count
 
 
-version = '3.0'
+version = '3.1'
 __version__ = version
 
 
diff --git a/make.py b/make.py
index d3c762e..e3f3fb8 100755
--- a/make.py
+++ b/make.py
@@ -27,12 +27,7 @@ def clean():
 
 def dist():
     """Create sdist and wheels, then upload to PyPi."""
-    sdist_cmd = "python setup.py sdist --formats=zip" 
-    wheel_cmd = "python setup.py bdist_wheel" 
-    twine_cmd = "twine upload dist/esper*"
-    call(shlex.split(sdist_cmd))
-    call(shlex.split(wheel_cmd))
-    call(shlex.split(twine_cmd))
+    call(shlex.split("flit publish"))
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b8ab031..dee1c41 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ readme = "README.md"
 license = {file = "LICENSE"}
 classifiers = ["License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License"]
 dynamic = ["version", "description"]
+requires-python = ">=3.8"
 
 [project.urls]
 Home = "https://github.com/benmoran56/esper"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index e1c26ac..0000000
--- a/setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-from setuptools import setup
-
-
-with open('esper/__init__.py') as f:
-    info = {}
-    for line in f.readlines():
-        if line.startswith('version'):
-            exec(line, info)
-            break
-
-README = open('README.md').read()
-
-setup(name='esper',
-      version=info['version'],
-      author='Benjamin Moran',
-      author_email='benmoran@protonmail.com',
-      description="esper is a lightweight Entity System (ECS) for Python, with a focus on performance.",
-      long_description=README,
-      license='MIT',
-      keywords='ecs,entity component system,game',
-      url='https://github.com/benmoran56/esper',
-      download_url='https://github.com/benmoran56/esper/releases',
-      platforms='POSIX, Windows, MacOS X',
-      packages=['esper'],
-      package_data={'esper': ['py.typed']},
-      classifiers=["Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
-                   "Intended Audience :: Developers",
-                   "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
-                   "Operating System :: OS Independent",
-                   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
-                   "Topic :: Games/Entertainment",
-                   "Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries"])