diff --git a/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/__tests__/expandPackageList.spec.js b/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/__tests__/expandPackageList.spec.js
index 123a5248..3e86a632 100644
--- a/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/__tests__/expandPackageList.spec.js
+++ b/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/__tests__/expandPackageList.spec.js
@@ -53,4 +53,25 @@ describe('expandPackageList', () => {
       `${process.cwd()}/sandbox/${projectName}/packages/package_b`,
     ]);
   });
+
+  it('ignores packages with "!" prefix in package directory', () => {
+    silentExec('./tests/bootstrap-examples/simple-monorepo.sh');
+
+    expect(
+      expandPackageList(
+        ['.', 'packages/*', '!packages/package_a'],
+        'sandbox/simple-monorepo'
+      )
+    ).toEqual([
+      `${process.cwd()}/sandbox/simple-monorepo`,
+      `${process.cwd()}/sandbox/simple-monorepo/packages/package_b`,
+    ]);
+
+    expect(
+      expandPackageList(
+        ['.', 'packages/*', '!packages/package_a', '!packages/package_b'],
+        'sandbox/simple-monorepo'
+      )
+    ).toEqual([`${process.cwd()}/sandbox/simple-monorepo`]);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/expandPackageList.js b/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/expandPackageList.js
index 582a6eae..3add1a99 100644
--- a/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/expandPackageList.js
+++ b/packages/shipjs-lib/src/lib/util/expandPackageList.js
@@ -10,8 +10,14 @@ const hasPackageJson = (dir) => existsSync(`${dir}/package.json`);
 const flatten = (arr) => arr.reduce((acc, item) => acc.concat(item), []);
 
 export default function expandPackageList(list, dir = '.') {
-  return flatten(
-    list.map((item) => {
+  const exclusions = list
+    .filter((item) => item.startsWith('!'))
+    .map((item) => resolve(dir, item.slice(1)));
+
+  const inclusions = list.filter((item) => !item.startsWith('!'));
+
+  const expandedInclusions = flatten(
+    inclusions.map((item) => {
       const partIndex = item
         .split(sep)
         .findIndex((part) => part.startsWith('@(') && part.endsWith(')'));
@@ -37,4 +43,6 @@ export default function expandPackageList(list, dir = '.') {
       }
     })
   ).filter(hasPackageJson);
+
+  return expandedInclusions.filter((pkg) => !exclusions.includes(pkg));
 }
diff --git a/website/guide/useful-config.md b/website/guide/useful-config.md
index 2173ebf2..ef2022a6 100644
--- a/website/guide/useful-config.md
+++ b/website/guide/useful-config.md
@@ -12,12 +12,20 @@ Ship.js currently supports monorepo project(Independent versioning is not suppor
 module.exports = {
   monorepo: {
     mainVersionFile: 'package.json', // or `lerna.json`, or whatever a json file you can read the latest `version` from.
-    packagesToBump: ['packages/*', 'examples/*'],
-    packagesToPublish: ['packages/*'],
+    packagesToBump: ['packages/*', 'examples/*', '!example/a'],
+    packagesToPublish: ['packages/*', '!examples/a'],
   },
 };
 ```
 
+Patterns supported in `packagesToBump` / `packagesToPublish`:
+- Plain paths (e.g. `.` or `packages/package_a`)
+- Trailing `/*` to include immediate subdirectories (e.g. `packages/*`)
+- `@(a|b)` style alternation (e.g. `packages/@(package_a|package_b)`)
+- Start with `!` to skip a path: `!packages/package_a`
+
+Ship.js only lists folders that have a `package.json`. Any paths that start with `!` are removed after the patterns are handled.
+
 With the config above, `prepare` command will
 
 1. Read the current version from `package.json` file at the project root directory.