diff --git a/dockerbin/launch-cron b/dockerbin/launch-cron
index 174168b..04a8ebc 100755
--- a/dockerbin/launch-cron
+++ b/dockerbin/launch-cron
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 IFS=$'\n\t'
 
 # make parallel citation shut up
-mkdir ~executor/.parallel
+mkdir -p ~executor/.parallel
 touch ~executor/.parallel/will-cite
 
 # repair ownership