diff --git a/bin/publish.js b/bin/publish.js
index 0a43b7c483..59771cd8f0 100644
--- a/bin/publish.js
+++ b/bin/publish.js
@@ -114,8 +114,7 @@ function checkAndPublishPackage(packageDir, repoCommit, peerDependencies) {
     stdio: 'inherit'
   });
   if (result.status) {
-    error(`Spawn exited with code ${result.status}`);
-    process.exit(result.status);
+    throw new Error(`Spawn exited with code ${result.status}`);
   }
 
   return { isStableRelease, nextVersion };