diff --git a/include/rabbitmq-c/amqp.h b/include/rabbitmq-c/amqp.h
index dde976dd..2d6171df 100644
--- a/include/rabbitmq-c/amqp.h
+++ b/include/rabbitmq-c/amqp.h
@@ -849,6 +849,23 @@ AMQP_EXPORT
 void AMQP_CALL amqp_pool_alloc_bytes(amqp_pool_t *pool, size_t amount,
                                      amqp_bytes_t *output);
 
+/**
+ * Wraps a c string literal in an amqp_bytes_t
+ *
+ * Takes a string literal, calculates its length and creates an
+ * amqp_bytes_t that points to it. The string literal is not duplicated.
+ *
+ * For a given input str, The amqp_bytes_t output.bytes is the
+ * same as str, output.len is the length of the string literal not including
+ * the \0 terminator
+ *
+ * \param [in] str the c string literal to wrap
+ * \return an amqp_bytes_t that describes the string literal
+ *
+ * \since v0.15
+ */
+#define amqp_literal_bytes(str) (amqp_bytes_t){sizeof(str) - 1, str}
+
 /**
  * Wraps a c string in an amqp_bytes_t
  *
diff --git a/librabbitmq/amqp_socket.c b/librabbitmq/amqp_socket.c
index 22e77e36..094ceb72 100644
--- a/librabbitmq/amqp_socket.c
+++ b/librabbitmq/amqp_socket.c
@@ -509,10 +509,10 @@ static amqp_bytes_t sasl_method_name(amqp_sasl_method_enum method) {
 
   switch (method) {
     case AMQP_SASL_METHOD_PLAIN:
-      res = amqp_cstring_bytes("PLAIN");
+      res = amqp_literal_bytes("PLAIN");
       break;
     case AMQP_SASL_METHOD_EXTERNAL:
-      res = amqp_cstring_bytes("EXTERNAL");
+      res = amqp_literal_bytes("EXTERNAL");
       break;
 
     default:
@@ -1332,7 +1332,7 @@ static amqp_rpc_reply_t amqp_login_inner(amqp_connection_state_t state,
     s.client_properties = state->client_properties;
     s.mechanism = sasl_method_name(sasl_method);
     s.response = response_bytes;
-    s.locale = amqp_cstring_bytes("en_US");
+    s.locale = amqp_literal_bytes("en_US");
 
     res = amqp_send_method_inner(state, 0, AMQP_CONNECTION_START_OK_METHOD, &s,
                                  AMQP_SF_NONE, deadline);