diff --git a/calibre-plugin/common_utils.py b/calibre-plugin/common_utils.py
index 2a52f6da..d4570530 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/common_utils.py
+++ b/calibre-plugin/common_utils.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ from calibre.gui2.actions import menu_action_unique_name
 from calibre.gui2.keyboard import ShortcutConfig
 from calibre.utils.config import config_dir
 from calibre.utils.date import now, format_date, qt_to_dt, UNDEFINED_DATE
+from .fanficfare.six import text_type as unicode
 
 # Global definition of our plugin name. Used for common functions that require this.
 plugin_name = None
@@ -615,4 +616,3 @@ class PrefsViewerDialog(SizePersistedDialog):
         self.close()
         if d.do_restart:
             self.gui.quit(restart=True)
-
diff --git a/calibre-plugin/config.py b/calibre-plugin/config.py
index aac53fff..73fc8868 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/config.py
+++ b/calibre-plugin/config.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ else:
 from calibre.gui2 import dynamic, info_dialog, question_dialog
 from calibre.gui2.ui import get_gui
 from calibre.gui2.complete2 import EditWithComplete
+from .fanficfare.six import text_type as unicode
 
 try:
     from calibre.ebooks.covers import generate_cover as cal_generate_cover
@@ -1667,5 +1668,3 @@ class ImapTab(QWidget):
         self.l.addWidget(label,row,0,1,-1,Qt.AlignTop)
         self.l.setRowStretch(row,1)
         row+=1
-
-
diff --git a/calibre-plugin/dialogs.py b/calibre-plugin/dialogs.py
index 076a1866..08fae875 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/dialogs.py
+++ b/calibre-plugin/dialogs.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ from calibre.gui2 import gprefs
 show_download_options = 'fff:add new/update dialogs:show_download_options'
 from calibre.gui2.dialogs.confirm_delete import confirm
 from calibre.gui2.complete2 import EditWithComplete
+from .fanficfare.six import text_type as unicode
 
 # pulls in translation files for _() strings
 try:
@@ -707,7 +708,7 @@ class _LoopProgressDialog(QProgressDialog):
             book['good']=False
             book['status']=_("Error")
             book['comment']=unicode(e)
-            logger.error("Exception: %s:%s"%(book,unicode(e)),exc_info=True)
+            logger.error("Exception: %s:%s"%(book,book['comment']),exc_info=True)
 
         self.updateStatus()
         self.i += 1
diff --git a/calibre-plugin/fff_plugin.py b/calibre-plugin/fff_plugin.py
index 33b487dd..4a9e42b2 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/fff_plugin.py
+++ b/calibre-plugin/fff_plugin.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2019, Jim Miller'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
+from .fanficfare.six import text_type as unicode
 
 # import cProfile
 
diff --git a/calibre-plugin/jobs.py b/calibre-plugin/jobs.py
index e181dff8..5dab4413 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/jobs.py
+++ b/calibre-plugin/jobs.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from calibre.utils.ipc.server import Server
 from calibre.utils.ipc.job import ParallelJob
 from calibre.constants import numeric_version as calibre_version
 from calibre.utils.date import local_tz
+from .fanficfare.six import text_type as unicode
 
 from calibre_plugins.fanficfare_plugin.wordcount import get_word_count
 from calibre_plugins.fanficfare_plugin.prefs import (SAVE_YES, SAVE_YES_UNLESS_SITE)
@@ -341,7 +342,7 @@ def do_download_for_worker(book,options,merge,notification=lambda x,y:x):
             book['comment']=unicode(e)
             book['icon']='dialog_error.png'
             book['status'] = _('Error')
-            logger.info("Exception: %s:%s"%(book,unicode(e)),exc_info=True)
+            logger.info("Exception: %s:%s"%(book,book['comment']),exc_info=True)
 
         #time.sleep(10)
     return book
diff --git a/calibre-plugin/wordcount.py b/calibre-plugin/wordcount.py
index 5ec46b08..acd64f6a 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/wordcount.py
+++ b/calibre-plugin/wordcount.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 import re
 
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.iterator import EbookIterator
+from .fanficfare.six import text_type as unicode
 
 RE_HTML_BODY = re.compile(u'<body[^>]*>(.*)</body>', re.UNICODE | re.DOTALL | re.IGNORECASE)
 RE_STRIP_MARKUP = re.compile(u'<[^>]+>', re.UNICODE)
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ def get_word_count(book_path):
     Estimate a word count
     '''
     from calibre.utils.localization import get_lang
-    
+
     iterator = _open_epub_file(book_path)
 
     lang = iterator.opf.language
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ def _get_epub_standard_word_count(iterator, lang='en'):
     '''
 
     book_text = _read_epub_contents(iterator, strip_html=True)
-    
+
     try:
         from calibre.spell.break_iterator import count_words
         wordcount = count_words(book_text, lang)
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ def _get_epub_standard_word_count(iterator, lang='en'):
             wordcount = get_wordcount_obj(book_text)
             wordcount = wordcount.words
             logger.debug('\tWord count - old method:%s'%wordcount)
-    
+
     return wordcount
 
 def _read_epub_contents(iterator, strip_html=False):
@@ -92,4 +93,3 @@ def _extract_body_text(data):
     if body:
         return RE_STRIP_MARKUP.sub('', body[0]).replace('.','. ')
     return ''
-