diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 883159fe..09ac43eb 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+Noteworthy changes in version 1.12.1 (unreleased)
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+
 Noteworthy changes in version 1.12.0 (2018-10-08)
 -------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index af569ac0..315b39ac 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ min_automake_version="1.14"
 # for the LT versions.
 m4_define(mym4_version_major, [1])
 m4_define(mym4_version_minor, [12])
-m4_define(mym4_version_micro, [0])
+m4_define(mym4_version_micro, [1])
 
 # Below is m4 magic to extract and compute the revision number, the
 # decimalized short revision number, a beta version string, and a flag