diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index e0ab5760bcd..17d537092b4 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 #define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL       1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION              "3.7.8rc1"
+#define PY_VERSION              "3.7.8rc1+"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Version as a single 4-byte hex number, e.g. 0x010502B2 == 1.5.2b2.
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index c989202565d..507b6c46b7a 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 3.7.8 candidate 1
-========================================
+This is Python version 3.7.8 candidate 1+
+=========================================
 
 .. image:: https://travis-ci.org/python/cpython.svg?branch=3.7
    :alt: CPython build status on Travis CI