diff --git a/bin/semantic-release b/bin/semantic-release
index 10de67f1..67fa9ccd 100755
--- a/bin/semantic-release
+++ b/bin/semantic-release
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ var abbrev = require('abbrev')
 var confirm = require('confirm-simple')
 var minimist = require('minimist')
 
+var efh = require('../lib/error').standard
+
 var argv = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), {
   alias: {
     d: 'debug',
@@ -21,8 +23,6 @@ var npmArgv = process.env.npm_config_argv ?
   {_: []}
 
 if (~argv._.indexOf('pre')) {
-  var publish = false
-
   // see src/restart.js
   if (npmArgv['semantic-release-rerun']) process.exit(0)
   // the `prepublish` hook is also executed when the package is installed
@@ -30,47 +30,35 @@ if (~argv._.indexOf('pre')) {
   if (isAbbrev(npmArgv, 'install')) process.exit(0)
 
   return confirmCI(function () {
-    if (isAbbrev(npmArgv, 'publish')) publish = true
-
     console.log('Determining new version')
 
-    require('../src/pre')(argv, function (err, result) {
-      if (err) {
-        console.log('Something went wrong.')
-        throw err
-      }
+    var publish = false
+    if (isAbbrev(npmArgv, 'publish')) publish = true
 
+    require('../src/pre')(argv, efh(function (result) {
       if (!result) {
         console.log('Nothing changed. Not publishing.')
         process.exit(1)
       }
 
       console.log('Publishing v' + result)
-      if (publish) require('../src/restart')(function (err) {
-        if (err) {
-          console.log('Something went wrong.')
-          throw err
-        }
+      if (!publish) process.exit(0)
 
+      require('../src/restart')(efh(function () {
         process.exit(1)
-      })
-    })
+      }))
+    }))
   })
 }
 
 if (~argv._.indexOf('post')) {
   return confirmCI(function () {
-    require('../src/post')(argv, function (err) {
-      if (err) {
-        console.log('Something went wrong.')
-        throw err
-      }
-
+    require('../src/post')(argv, efh(function () {
       // see src/restart.js
       if (npmArgv['semantic-release-rerun']) {
         console.log('Everything is alright :) npm will now print an error message that you can safely ignore.')
       }
-    })
+    }))
   })
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/error.js b/lib/error.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..25ffbe8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+'use strict'
+
+var efh = require('error-first-handler')
+
+module.exports = {
+  efh: efh,
+  standard: efh(function(err) {
+    console.log('Something went wrong:')
+    if (typeof err === 'string') return console.log(err)
+    if (err instanceof Error) return console.log(err.message)
+    if (err.message) return console.log(err.message)
+    console.log(err)
+  })
+}
diff --git a/lib/type/commits.js b/lib/type/commits.js
index 5cbe98e1..37aa5922 100644
--- a/lib/type/commits.js
+++ b/lib/type/commits.js
@@ -2,13 +2,12 @@
 
 var git = require('conventional-changelog/lib/git')
 
-module.exports = function (cb) {
-  git.latestTag(function (err, from) {
-    if (err) return cb(err)
+var efh = require('../error').efh
 
-    git.getCommits({from: from}, function (err, commits) {
-      if (err) return cb(err)
+module.exports = function (cb) {
+  git.latestTag(efh(cb)(function (from) {
+    git.getCommits({from: from}, efh(cb)(function (commits) {
       cb(null, commits)
-    })
-  })
+    }))
+  }))
 }
diff --git a/lib/type/index.js b/lib/type/index.js
index e17115ae..89f5f106 100644
--- a/lib/type/index.js
+++ b/lib/type/index.js
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 'use strict'
 
-var commits = require('./commits')
 var analyze = require('./analyze')
+var commits = require('./commits')
+var efh = require('../error').efh
 
 module.exports = function (cb) {
-  commits(function (err, commits) {
-    if (err) return cb(err)
-
+  commits(efh(cb)(function (commits) {
     cb(null, analyze(commits))
-  })
+  }))
 }
diff --git a/lib/version.js b/lib/version.js
index bc0d0a14..c3863377 100644
--- a/lib/version.js
+++ b/lib/version.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ var exec = require('child_process').exec
 var unlink = require('fs').unlinkSync
 
 module.exports = function (pkg, cb) {
-  if (!pkg.name) return cb('Package must have a name')
+  if (!pkg.name) return cb(new Error('Package must have a name'))
 
   exec('npm show ' + pkg.name + ' version', function(err, stdout, stderr) {
     if (err) unlink('./npm-debug.log')
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6721360c..976ae468 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     "abbrev": "^1.0.5",
     "confirm-simple": "^1.0.3",
     "conventional-changelog": "0.0.11",
+    "error-first-handler": "^1.0.1",
     "github": "^0.2.3",
     "github-url-from-git": "^1.4.0",
     "minimist": "^1.1.0",
diff --git a/src/post.js b/src/post.js
index ce99153e..47932365 100644
--- a/src/post.js
+++ b/src/post.js
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ var GitHubApi = require('github')
 var parseSlug = require('parse-github-repo-url')
 var parseUrl = require('github-url-from-git')
 
+var efh = require('../lib/error').efh
+
 var github = new GitHubApi({
   version: '3.0.0'
 })
@@ -16,18 +18,14 @@ module.exports = function (options, cb) {
   var pkg = JSON.parse(readFile('./package.json'))
   var repository = pkg.repository ? pkg.repository.url : null
 
-  if (!repository) return cb('Package must have a repository')
+  if (!repository) return cb(new Error('Package must have a repository'))
 
   changelog({
     version: pkg.version,
     repository: parseUrl(repository),
     file: false
-  }, function(err, log) {
-    if (err) return cb(err)
-
-    exec('git rev-parse HEAD', function(err, hash) {
-      if (err) return cb(err)
-
+  }, efh(cb)(function (log) {
+    exec('git rev-parse HEAD', efh(cb)(function (hash) {
       var ghRepo = parseSlug(repository)
       var release = {
         owner: ghRepo[0],
@@ -43,10 +41,9 @@ module.exports = function (options, cb) {
         token: options.token
       })
 
-      github.releases.createRelease(release, function(err) {
-        if (err) return cb(err)
+      github.releases.createRelease(release, efh(cb)(function () {
         cb(null, true)
-      })
-    })
-  })
+      }))
+    }))
+  }))
 }
diff --git a/src/pre.js b/src/pre.js
index 4ecdf919..fe965f97 100644
--- a/src/pre.js
+++ b/src/pre.js
@@ -6,21 +6,19 @@ var semver = require('semver')
 
 var type = require('../lib/type')
 var version = require('../lib/version')
+var efh = require('../lib/error').efh
 
 module.exports = function (options, cb) {
-  type(function (err, type) {
-    if (err) return cb(err)
+  type(efh(cb)(function (type) {
     if (!type) return cb(null, null)
 
     var path = './package.json'
     var pkg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path))
-    version(pkg, function (err, version, unpublished) {
-      if (err) return cb(err)
-
+    version(pkg, efh(cb)(function (version, unpublished) {
       pkg.version = unpublished ? '1.0.0' : semver.inc(version, type)
       if (!options.debug) fs.writeFileSync(path, JSON.stringify(pkg, null, 2))
 
       cb(null, pkg.version)
-    })
-  })
+    }))
+  }))
 }