diff --git a/pyreadline/lineeditor/lineobj.py b/pyreadline/lineeditor/lineobj.py
index 4347ffb..25ab657 100644
--- a/pyreadline/lineeditor/lineobj.py
+++ b/pyreadline/lineeditor/lineobj.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import re, operator, sys
 import wordmatcher
 import pyreadline.clipboard as clipboard
 from pyreadline.logger import  log
-from pyreadline.unicode_helper import ensure_unicode
+from pyreadline.unicode_helper import ensure_unicode, biter
 
 kill_ring_to_clipboard = False #set to true to copy every addition to kill ring to clipboard
 
@@ -272,12 +272,12 @@ class TextLine(object):
     def _insert_text(self, text, argument=1):
         text = text * argument
         if self.overwrite:
-            for c in text:
+            for c in biter(text):
                 #if self.point:
                 self.line_buffer[self.point] = c
                 self.point += 1
         else:            
-            for c in text:
+            for c in biter(text):
                 self.line_buffer.insert(self.point, c)
                 self.point += 1
     
diff --git a/pyreadline/unicode_helper.py b/pyreadline/unicode_helper.py
index 7fffd9f..7bb8811 100644
--- a/pyreadline/unicode_helper.py
+++ b/pyreadline/unicode_helper.py
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ if pyreadline_codepage is None:
 if sys.version_info < (2, 6):
     bytes = str
 
+PY3 = (sys.version_info >= (3, 0))
+
 def ensure_unicode(text):
     u"""helper to ensure that text passed to WriteConsoleW is unicode"""
     if isinstance(text, bytes):
@@ -37,3 +39,9 @@ def ensure_str(text):
         except (LookupError, TypeError):
             return text.encode(u"ascii", u"replace")
     return text
+
+def biter(text):
+    if PY3 and isinstance(text, bytes):
+        return (s.to_bytes(1, 'big') for s in text)
+    else:
+        return iter(text)