diff --git a/pushbullet-types.cabal b/pushbullet-types.cabal
--- a/pushbullet-types.cabal
+++ b/pushbullet-types.cabal
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 -- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
 
 name:                pushbullet-types
-version:             0.4.0.2
+version:             0.4.1.0
 synopsis:            Datatypes used by the Pushbullet APIs
 -- description:
 license:             MIT
diff --git a/src/Network/Pushbullet/Types/Misc.hs b/src/Network/Pushbullet/Types/Misc.hs
--- a/src/Network/Pushbullet/Types/Misc.hs
+++ b/src/Network/Pushbullet/Types/Misc.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,17 @@
-module Network.Pushbullet.Types.Misc where
+module Network.Pushbullet.Types.Misc
+( EmailAddress(..),
+  ChannelTag(..),
+  ChannelId(..),
+  ClientId(..),
+  MimeType(..),
+  Url(..),
+  Guid(..),
+  PhoneNumber(..),
+  TrivialObject,
+  trivialObject,
+  Name(..)
+)
+where
 
 import Data.Aeson
 import qualified Data.HashMap.Lazy as H
@@ -29,8 +42,12 @@
   deriving (Eq, FromJSON, Show, ToJSON)
 
 newtype TrivialObject = TrivialObject ()
-  deriving (Eq, Ord, Monoid, Show)
+  deriving (Eq, Ord, Show)
 
+-- | Constructs a trivial object, with no keys.
+trivialObject :: TrivialObject
+trivialObject = TrivialObject ()
+
 newtype Name = Name
   { unName :: Text
   }
@@ -41,6 +58,6 @@
 
 instance FromJSON TrivialObject where
   parseJSON (Object o)
-    | H.null o = pure mempty
-    | otherwise = fail "trivial object has no keys"
+    | H.null o = pure trivialObject
+    | otherwise = fail "cannot parse non-trivial object to trivial object"
   parseJSON _ = fail "cannot parse non-object to trivial object"