diff --git a/jupytext/version.py b/jupytext/version.py
index ad478317f..7667dfddb 100644
--- a/jupytext/version.py
+++ b/jupytext/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """Jupytext's version number"""
 
-__version__ = '0.8.6'
+__version__ = '0.8.6rc1'