diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/doc.cpp b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/doc.cpp
index c169f80719..d9cef4c423 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/doc.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/doc.cpp
@@ -293,18 +293,18 @@ PDFDoc_set_box(PDFDoc *self, PyObject *args) {
 static PyObject *
 PDFDoc_create_outline(PDFDoc *self, PyObject *args) {
     PDFOutlineItem *ans;
-    char *title_buf;
+    PyObject *title_buf;
     unsigned int pagenum;
     double left = 0, top = 0, zoom = 0;
     PdfPage *page;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "esI|ddd", "UTF-8", &title_buf, &pagenum, &left, &top, &zoom)) return NULL;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "UI|ddd", &title_buf, &pagenum, &left, &top, &zoom)) return NULL;
 
     ans = PyObject_New(PDFOutlineItem, &PDFOutlineItemType);
     if (ans == NULL) goto error;
 
     try {
-        PdfString title(reinterpret_cast<pdf_utf8 *>(title_buf));
+        PdfString title = podofo_convert_pystring(title_buf);
         PdfOutlines *outlines = self->doc->GetOutlines();
         if (outlines == NULL) {PyErr_NoMemory(); goto error;}
         ans->item = outlines->CreateRoot(title);
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/outline.cpp b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/outline.cpp
index 3a337492f2..134198dc0e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/outline.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/outline.cpp
@@ -49,16 +49,16 @@ create(PDFOutlineItem *self, PyObject *args) {
     unsigned int num;
     double left = 0, top = 0, zoom = 0;
     PdfPage *page;
-    char *title_buf;
+    PyObject *title_buf;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "esIO|ddd", "UTF-8", &title_buf, &num, &as_child, &left, &top, &zoom)) return NULL;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "UIO|ddd", &title_buf, &num, &as_child, &left, &top, &zoom)) return NULL;
 
     ans = PyObject_New(PDFOutlineItem, &PDFOutlineItemType);
     if (ans == NULL) goto error;
     ans->doc = self->doc;
 
     try {
-        PdfString title(reinterpret_cast<pdf_utf8 *>(title_buf));
+        PdfString title = podofo_convert_pystring(title_buf);
         try {
             page = self->doc->GetPage(num - 1);
         } catch(const PdfError &err) { page = NULL; }
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/utils.cpp b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/utils.cpp
index dee0aeb981..f9734fd09a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/utils.cpp
@@ -33,10 +33,8 @@ pdf::podofo_convert_pystring(PyObject *val) {
 #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION > 2
     return PdfString(reinterpret_cast<const pdf_utf8*>(PyUnicode_AsUTF8(val)));
 #else
-    PyObject *temp = PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(val);
+    pyunique_ptr temp(PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(val));
     if (!temp) throw std::bad_alloc();
-    PdfString s(reinterpret_cast<const pdf_utf8*>(PyBytes_AS_STRING(temp)));
-    Py_DECREF(temp);
-    return s;
+    return PdfString(reinterpret_cast<const pdf_utf8*>(PyBytes_AS_STRING(temp.get())));
 #endif
 }