diff --git a/duckduckgo_search/duckduckgo_search_async.py b/duckduckgo_search/duckduckgo_search_async.py
index 814ccae..c4f17b8 100644
--- a/duckduckgo_search/duckduckgo_search_async.py
+++ b/duckduckgo_search/duckduckgo_search_async.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ async def _get_vqd(self, keywords: str) -> Optional[str]:
     async def _sleep(self) -> None:
         """Sleep between API requests if proxies is None."""
         if self.proxies is None:
-            asyncio.sleep(0.75)
+            await asyncio.sleep(0.75)
 
     async def text(
         self,
diff --git a/duckduckgo_search/version.py b/duckduckgo_search/version.py
index cdd6123..4ad52ad 100755
--- a/duckduckgo_search/version.py
+++ b/duckduckgo_search/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "3.9.7"
+__version__ = "3.9.8"