diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2f7896d..e02456b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 target/
+.idea
+*.iml
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 95e7f66..d00a324 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -63,12 +63,17 @@
 			<groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
 			<artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
 			<version>1.1.7</version>
-      <scope>provided</scope>
+      		<scope>provided</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.kafka</groupId>
 			<artifactId>kafka-clients</artifactId>
 			<version>0.10.0.0</version>
+		</dependency><!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.googlecode.json-simple/json-simple -->
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>com.googlecode.json-simple</groupId>
+			<artifactId>json-simple</artifactId>
+			<version>1.1.1</version>
 		</dependency>
 	</dependencies>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatter.java b/src/main/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatter.java
index c3c4243..e2c5168 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatter.java
@@ -1,76 +1,53 @@
 package com.github.ptgoetz.logback.kafka.formatter;
 
 import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent;
+import org.json.simple.JSONObject;
+import org.json.simple.JSONValue;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
 public class JsonFormatter implements Formatter {
-  private static final char QUOTE = '"';
-  private static final char COLON = ':';
-  private static final char COMMA = ',';
 
-  private boolean expectJson = false;
+  private boolean expectJsonMessage = false;
   private boolean includeMethodAndLineNumber = false;
-  private String extraProperties = null;
+  private Map extraPropertiesMap = null;
 
   public String format(ILoggingEvent event) {
-    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
-    sb.append("{");
-    fieldName("level", sb);
-    quote(event.getLevel().levelStr, sb);
-    sb.append(COMMA);
-    fieldName("logger", sb);
-    quote(event.getLoggerName(), sb);
-    sb.append(COMMA);
-    fieldName("timestamp", sb);
-    sb.append(event.getTimeStamp());
-    sb.append(COMMA);
-    fieldName("message", sb);
-    if (this.expectJson) {
-      sb.append(event.getFormattedMessage());
-    } else {
-      quote(event.getFormattedMessage(), sb);
+    JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
+    jsonObject.put("level", event.getLevel().levelStr);
+    jsonObject.put("logger", event.getLoggerName());
+    jsonObject.put("timestamp", event.getTimeStamp());
+    if( expectJsonMessage ) {
+      Object object = JSONValue.parse(event.getFormattedMessage());
+      jsonObject.put("message", object );
+    }else{
+      jsonObject.put("message", event.getFormattedMessage());
     }
-    if(includeMethodAndLineNumber) {
-      sb.append(COMMA);
-      // Caller Data
+    if (includeMethodAndLineNumber) {
       StackTraceElement[] callerDataArray = event.getCallerData();
       if (callerDataArray != null && callerDataArray.length > 0) {
         StackTraceElement stackTraceElement = callerDataArray[0];
-        fieldName("method", sb);
-        quote(stackTraceElement.getMethodName(), sb);
-        sb.append(COMMA);
-        fieldName("lineNumber", sb);
-        quote(stackTraceElement.getLineNumber() + "", sb);
+        jsonObject.put("method", stackTraceElement.getMethodName());
+        jsonObject.put("lineNumber", stackTraceElement.getLineNumber() + "");
       }
     }
-    if(this.extraProperties!=null){
-      sb.append(this.extraProperties);
+    if (this.extraPropertiesMap != null) {
+      jsonObject.putAll(extraPropertiesMap);
     }
-    sb.append("}");
-    return sb.toString();
+    return jsonObject.toJSONString();
   }
 
-  private static void fieldName(String name, StringBuilder sb) {
-    quote(name, sb);
-    sb.append(COLON);
+  public boolean getExpectJsonMessage() {
+    return expectJsonMessage;
   }
 
-  private static void quote(String value, StringBuilder sb) {
-    sb.append(QUOTE);
-    sb.append(value);
-    sb.append(QUOTE);
-  }
-
-  public boolean getExpectJson() {
-    return expectJson;
-  }
-
-  public void setExpectJson(boolean expectJson) {
-    this.expectJson = expectJson;
+  public void setExpectJsonMessage(boolean expectJsonMessage) {
+    this.expectJsonMessage = expectJsonMessage;
   }
 
   public boolean getIncludeMethodAndLineNumber() {
@@ -81,26 +58,20 @@ public void setIncludeMethodAndLineNumber(boolean includeMethodAndLineNumber) {
     this.includeMethodAndLineNumber = includeMethodAndLineNumber;
   }
 
-  public String getExtraProperties() {
-    return extraProperties;
-  }
-
   public void setExtraProperties(String thatExtraProperties) {
     final Properties properties = new Properties();
     try {
       properties.load(new StringReader(thatExtraProperties));
+      Enumeration<?> enumeration = properties.propertyNames();
+      extraPropertiesMap = new HashMap();
+      while(enumeration.hasMoreElements()){
+        String name = (String)enumeration.nextElement();
+        String value = properties.getProperty(name);
+        extraPropertiesMap.put(name,value);
+      }
     } catch (IOException e) {
+      System.out.println("There was a problem reading the extra properties configuration: "+e.getMessage());
       e.printStackTrace();
     }
-    Enumeration<?> enumeration = properties.propertyNames();
-    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
-    while(enumeration.hasMoreElements()){
-      String name = (String)enumeration.nextElement();
-      String value = properties.getProperty(name);
-      sb.append(COMMA);
-      fieldName(name, sb);
-      quote(value,sb);
-    }
-    this.extraProperties = sb.toString();
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatterTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatterTest.java
index 1bc8c67..6979aa2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/ptgoetz/logback/kafka/formatter/JsonFormatterTest.java
@@ -3,34 +3,35 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import static junit.framework.Assert.*;
+
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 public class JsonFormatterTest extends TestCase {
 
     @Test
     public void testJsonFormat() {
-        String nonJsonMessage = "{\"level\":\"INFO\",\"logger\":\"test\",\"timestamp\":1370918376296,\"message\":\"foobar\"}";
-      String jsonMessage =    "{\"level\":\"INFO\",\"logger\":\"test\",\"timestamp\":1370918376296,\"message\":{\"foo\":\"bar\"}}";
-      String nonJsonMessageWithGroupProperties =    "{\"level\":\"INFO\",\"logger\":\"test\",\"timestamp\":1370918376296,\"message\":\"foobar\",\"name2\":\"value2\",\"name1\":\"value1\"}";
-
-      // non-JSON
-      MockLoggingEvent event = new MockLoggingEvent(false);
-      JsonFormatter formatter = new JsonFormatter();
-      formatter.setExpectJson(false);
-      String json = formatter.format(event);
-      assertEquals(nonJsonMessage, json);
-
-      // JSON
-      event = new MockLoggingEvent(true);
-      formatter.setExpectJson(true);
-      json = formatter.format(event);
-      assertEquals(jsonMessage, json);
-
-      // Group Properties
-      event = new MockLoggingEvent(false);
-      formatter.setExpectJson(false);
-      formatter.setGroupProperties("name1=value1\nname2=value2");
-      json = formatter.format(event);
-      assertEquals(nonJsonMessageWithGroupProperties, json);
+        String nonJsonMessage = "{\"level\":\"INFO\",\"logger\":\"test\",\"message\":\"foobar\",\"timestamp\":1370918376296}";
+        String jsonMessage = "{\"level\":\"INFO\",\"logger\":\"test\",\"message\":{\"foo\":\"bar\"},\"timestamp\":1370918376296}";
+        String nonJsonMessageWithGroupProperties = "{\"level\":\"INFO\",\"logger\":\"test\",\"message\":\"foobar\",\"name2\":\"value2\",\"name1\":\"value1\",\"timestamp\":1370918376296}";
+
+        // non-JSON
+        MockLoggingEvent event = new MockLoggingEvent(false);
+        JsonFormatter formatter = new JsonFormatter();
+        formatter.setExpectJsonMessage(false);
+        String json = formatter.format(event);
+        assertEquals(nonJsonMessage, json);
+
+        // JSON
+        event = new MockLoggingEvent(true);
+        formatter.setExpectJsonMessage(true);
+        json = formatter.format(event);
+        assertEquals(jsonMessage, json);
+
+        // Extra Properties
+        event = new MockLoggingEvent(false);
+        formatter.setExpectJsonMessage(false);
+        formatter.setExtraProperties("name1=value1\nname2=value2");
+        json = formatter.format(event);
+        assertEquals(nonJsonMessageWithGroupProperties, json);
     }
 }