diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8cb2be5..73451ed 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ install-doc: doc
 
 pypi:
 	version=`git describe --tags ${REV}` && \
-		sed -i "s/version = .*/version = '$$version'/" setup.py
+		sed -i "s/version = .*/version = '$$version'[1:]/" setup.py
 	-rm -rf dist build
 	python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e04fb21..d528a22 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import sys
 import os
 
 # strip leading v
-version = 'v1.0.1'
+version = 'v1.0.1'[1:]
 
 # check for released version
 assert (len(version) > 0)