diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 97f57f443..7076b608d 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ include synctl
 include LICENSE
 include VERSION
 include *.rst
+include *.md
 include demo/README
 include demo/demo.tls.dh
 include demo/*.py
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1453ddd53..f4d6f0c6b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     package = "synapse"
     filename = "CHANGES.md"
     directory = "changelog.d"
-    issue_format = "[\#{issue}](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/{issue}>)"
+    issue_format = "[\\#{issue}](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/{issue}>)"
 
     [[tool.towncrier.type]]
         directory = "feature"