diff --git a/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py b/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py
index ae37769d..a29db554 100644
--- a/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py
+++ b/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ class EncryptedJournal(Journal.Journal):
     @classmethod
     def _create(cls, filename, password):
         key = make_key(password)
-        dummy = Fernet(key).encrypt("")
-        with open(filename, 'w') as f:
+        dummy = Fernet(key).encrypt(b"")
+        with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
             f.write(dummy)
 
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0adcab15..e96973be 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ setup(
         "cryptography==1.4",
         "tzlocal>=1.2",
         "pyyaml>=3.11",
-        "keyring==7.3",
+        "keyring>=7.3",
         "passlib>=1.6.2",
         "pyxdg>=0.25",
     ] + [p for p, cond in conditional_dependencies.items() if cond],