diff --git a/bin/release-it.js b/bin/release-it.js
index c715f5b1..445b86a7 100755
--- a/bin/release-it.js
+++ b/bin/release-it.js
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 
 import updater from 'update-notifier';
 import parseArgs from 'yargs-parser';
-import pkg from '../package.json';
 import release from '../lib/index.js';
+import { readJSON } from '../lib/util';
+
+const pkg = readJSON('../package.json');
 
 const aliases = {
   c: 'config',
diff --git a/lib/cli.js b/lib/cli.js
index 9be7a6cc..7e3f3b3c 100644
--- a/lib/cli.js
+++ b/lib/cli.js
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-import pkg from '../package.json';
+import { readJSON } from '../lib/util';
 import Log from './log';
 
+const pkg = readJSON('../package.json');
+
 const log = new Log();
 
 const helpText = `Release It! v${pkg.version}
diff --git a/lib/config.js b/lib/config.js
index 83d7e666..0c6057f4 100644
--- a/lib/config.js
+++ b/lib/config.js
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ import yaml from 'yaml';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import isCI from 'is-ci';
 import _debug from 'debug';
-import defaultConfig from '../config/release-it.json';
-import { getSystemInfo } from './util';
+import { readJSON, getSystemInfo } from './util';
 
 const debug = _debug('release-it:config');
+const defaultConfig = readJSON('../config/release-it.json');
 
 const searchPlaces = [
   'package.json',
diff --git a/lib/deprecated.js b/lib/deprecated.js
index ed8ba8ed..93b6e584 100644
--- a/lib/deprecated.js
+++ b/lib/deprecated.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import Deprecated from 'deprecated-obj';
-import deprecated from '../config/deprecated.json';
+import { readJSON } from './util';
 import Log from './log';
 
+const deprecated = readJSON('../config/deprecated.json');
+
 export default (config, log = new Log()) => {
   const deprecations = new Deprecated(deprecated, config);
   const compliant = deprecations.getCompliant();
diff --git a/lib/metrics.js b/lib/metrics.js
index a7c8d153..1b5f168a 100644
--- a/lib/metrics.js
+++ b/lib/metrics.js
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
 import osName from 'os-name';
 import isCi from 'is-ci';
 import _debug from 'debug';
-import pkg from '../package.json';
+import { readJSON } from './util';
 
 const debug = _debug('release-it:metrics');
+const pkg = readJSON('../package.json');
 
 const noop = Promise.resolve();
 
diff --git a/lib/plugin/GitRelease.js b/lib/plugin/GitRelease.js
index 7f617735..bc548a18 100644
--- a/lib/plugin/GitRelease.js
+++ b/lib/plugin/GitRelease.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import _ from 'lodash';
-import defaultConfig from '../../config/release-it.json';
+import { readJSON } from '../util';
 import GitBase from './GitBase';
 
+const defaultConfig = readJSON('../../config.release-it.json');
+
 class GitRelease extends GitBase {
   static isEnabled(options) {
     return options.release;
diff --git a/lib/plugin/github/GitHub.js b/lib/plugin/github/GitHub.js
index 0600c586..94550f09 100644
--- a/lib/plugin/github/GitHub.js
+++ b/lib/plugin/github/GitHub.js
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ import globby from 'globby';
 import mime from 'mime-types';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import retry from 'async-retry';
-import pkg from '../../../package.json';
-import { format, parseVersion, e } from '../../util';
+import { format, parseVersion, readJSON, e } from '../../util';
 import Release from '../GitRelease';
 import prompts from './prompts';
 
+const pkg = readJSON('../../../package.json');
+
 const docs = 'https://git.io/release-it-github';
 
 const RETRY_CODES = [408, 413, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504, 521, 522, 524];
diff --git a/lib/util.js b/lib/util.js
index 43d69fc3..962576fb 100644
--- a/lib/util.js
+++ b/lib/util.js
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@ import _ from 'lodash';
 import gitUrlParse from 'git-url-parse';
 import semver from 'semver';
 import osName from 'os-name';
-import pkg from '../package.json';
 import Log from './log';
 
+const readJSON = async file => JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf8'));
+
+const pkg = readJSON('../package.json');
+
 const log = new Log();
 
 const getSystemInfo = () => {
@@ -97,5 +100,6 @@ export {
   parseGitUrl,
   hasAccess,
   parseVersion,
+  readJSON,
   e
 };
diff --git a/test/cli.js b/test/cli.js
index 57e9cc83..dfe1fa9a 100644
--- a/test/cli.js
+++ b/test/cli.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import test from 'ava';
 import mockStdIo from 'mock-stdio';
-import pkg from '../package.json';
 import { version, help } from '../lib/cli';
+import { readJSON } from './util';
+
+const pkg = readJSON('../package.json');
 
 test('should print version', t => {
   mockStdIo.start();
diff --git a/test/config.js b/test/config.js
index 81b08312..9764ff8f 100644
--- a/test/config.js
+++ b/test/config.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import test from 'ava';
 import mock from 'mock-fs';
 import Config from '../lib/config';
-import defaultConfig from '../config/release-it.json';
+import { readJSON } from './util';
+
+const defaultConfig = readJSON('../config/release-it.json');
 
 const localConfig = { github: { release: true } };
 
diff --git a/test/git.init.js b/test/git.init.js
index 052016bc..0edb3761 100644
--- a/test/git.init.js
+++ b/test/git.init.js
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@ import test from 'ava';
 import sh from 'shelljs';
 import Shell from '../lib/shell';
 import Git from '../lib/plugin/git/Git';
-import { git } from '../config/release-it.json';
-import { factory } from './util';
+import { factory, readJSON } from './util';
 import { mkTmpDir, gitAdd } from './util/helpers';
 
+const { git } = readJSON('../config/release-it.json');
+
 test.serial.beforeEach(t => {
   const bare = mkTmpDir();
   const target = mkTmpDir();