diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,3 +3,7 @@
 ## 0.1.0.0 -- 2024-07-21
 
 * initial support for sending simple http requests with monoidal interface
+
+## 0.1.1.0 -- 2024-07-21
+
+* internall, don't do unnecessary conversion from String to StrictByteString and use StrictByteString directly
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-[![ci](https://ci.mangoiv.com/api/badges/11/status.svg)](https://ci.mangoiv.com/repos/11)
+[![Hackage](https://img.shields.io/hackage/v/http-barf.svg)](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/http-barf) [![ci](https://ci.mangoiv.com/api/badges/11/status.svg)](https://ci.mangoiv.com/repos/11)
 
 # http barf
 
@@ -8,3 +8,15 @@
 
 You may use it if you just have to vomit out a quick script and don't want to deal with all the complexities of involving a library 
 that provides more features or more safety guarantees.
+
+## Example 
+
+```haskell
+λ GHCi ~ res <- get_ "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts" [q_ "userId" "1"]
+res :: Data.ByteString.Lazy.Internal.LazyByteString
+(0.40 secs, 6,838,760 bytes)
+λ GHCi ~ decode @Value res 
+Just (Array [Object (fromList [("body",String "quia et suscipit\nsuscipit ...
+it :: Maybe Value
+(0.01 secs, 3,324,080 bytes)
+```
diff --git a/http-barf.cabal b/http-barf.cabal
--- a/http-barf.cabal
+++ b/http-barf.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cabal-version:   3.4
 name:            http-barf
-version:         0.1.0.0
+version:         0.1.1.0
 synopsis:        a library to make http requests without worrying much 
 description:
   a dead simple library to make http requests. It provides helper functions to use different http methods, it supports 
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
     DataKinds
     DerivingVia
     OverloadedRecordDot
+    OverloadedStrings
     TypeFamilies
 
 test-suite http-barf-test
diff --git a/src/Network/HTTP/Barf/Internal.hs b/src/Network/HTTP/Barf/Internal.hs
--- a/src/Network/HTTP/Barf/Internal.hs
+++ b/src/Network/HTTP/Barf/Internal.hs
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO (liftIO))
 import Data.Aeson (Value)
 import Data.Aeson qualified as Aeson
+import Data.ByteString (StrictByteString)
 import Data.ByteString.Char8 qualified as BS8
 import Data.ByteString.Lazy (LazyByteString)
 import Data.List qualified as List
@@ -134,12 +135,12 @@
   -> m LazyByteString
 post_ = httpWithManager "POST"
 
-buildRequestFromReq :: String -> String -> Req' -> IO Request
+buildRequestFromReq :: StrictByteString -> String -> Req' -> IO Request
 buildRequestFromReq method url req = do
   r <-
     setQueryString (foldMap (\(s, s') -> [(BS8.pack s, Just (BS8.pack s'))]) req.queryParams)
       . (\r -> r {requestBody = RequestBodyLBS $ Aeson.encode req.jsonBody})
-      . (\r -> r {method = BS8.pack method})
+      . (\r -> r {method = method})
       <$> parseRequest url
   let err = hPutStrLn stderr
   when req.inspectRequest do
@@ -152,7 +153,7 @@
     exitFailure
   pure r
 
-httpWithManager :: MonadIO m => String -> String -> Req -> m LazyByteString
+httpWithManager :: MonadIO m => StrictByteString -> String -> Req -> m LazyByteString
 httpWithManager method url req = liftIO do
   r <- buildRequestFromReq method url $ req.appReq defaultReq'
   manager <- newManager if r.secure then tlsManagerSettings else defaultManagerSettings