diff --git a/mictools/__init__.py b/mictools/__init__.py
index b608450..67cd08f 100644
--- a/mictools/__init__.py
+++ b/mictools/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-__version__ = "1.1.2"
+__version__ = "1.1.3"
 
 NULL_HIST_RES = 10000
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mictools/utils.py b/mictools/utils.py
index a787f99..1f53510 100644
--- a/mictools/utils.py
+++ b/mictools/utils.py
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ def read_data(xvars_fn, labels_fn=None, target=None, yvars_fn=None):
             raise Exception("target {} is not in the labels file".\
                             format(target))
         
-        labels = labels_df.loc[labels_df[target].notnull(), target]
+        labels_df = labels_df.loc[labels_df[target].notnull(), target]
+        labels = labels_df.astype(str)
         sample_ids = sorted(set(sample_ids) & set(labels.index))
 
     if not yvars_fn is None:
diff --git a/pypi-deploy.sh b/pypi-deploy.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f300cf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pypi-deploy.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+python3 setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
+python3 -m twine upload dist/*
\ No newline at end of file