diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-## TBD
+## v1.1.2 - 2017-04-10
+
+* Tighten lower version bound for base [#43](https://github.com/maoe/influxdb-haskell/issues/43)
+* Add `Database.InfluxDB.Format.{string,byteString8}`
 
 ## v1.1.1 - 2017-03-29
 
diff --git a/influxdb.cabal b/influxdb.cabal
--- a/influxdb.cabal
+++ b/influxdb.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: influxdb
-version: 1.1.1
+version: 1.1.2
 synopsis: Haskell client library for InfluxDB
 description: Haskell client library for InfluxDB
 homepage: https://github.com/maoe/influxdb-haskell
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
     ViewPatterns
   ghc-options: -Wall
   build-depends:
-      base >= 4 && < 4.10
+      base >= 4.8 && < 4.10
     , aeson >= 0.7 && < 1.2
     , attoparsec < 0.14
     , bytestring >= 0.10 && < 0.11
@@ -150,5 +150,5 @@
 
 source-repository this
   type: git
-  tag: v1.1.1
+  tag: v1.1.2
   location: https://github.com/maoe/influxdb-haskell.git
diff --git a/src/Database/InfluxDB/Format.hs b/src/Database/InfluxDB/Format.hs
--- a/src/Database/InfluxDB/Format.hs
+++ b/src/Database/InfluxDB/Format.hs
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
   , decimal
   , realFloat
   , text
+  , string
+  , byteString8
   , time
   ) where
 import Control.Category
@@ -100,6 +102,12 @@
 
 text :: Format r (T.Text -> r)
 text = makeFormat TL.fromText
+
+string :: Format r (String -> r)
+string = makeFormat TL.fromString
+
+byteString8 :: Format r (B.ByteString -> r)
+byteString8 = makeFormat $ TL.fromText . T.decodeUtf8
 
 time :: FormatTime time => Format r (time -> r)
 time = makeFormat $ \t ->