diff --git a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
index a177ecf30..deaf0831c 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 const chalk = require('chalk')
 const checkpoint = require('../checkpoint')
 const conventionalRecommendedBump = require('conventional-recommended-bump')
-const detectIndent = require('detect-indent')
-const detectNewline = require('detect-newline')
 const figures = require('figures')
 const fs = require('fs')
 const DotGitignore = require('dotgitignore')
@@ -12,8 +10,8 @@ const path = require('path')
 const presetLoader = require('../preset-loader')
 const runLifecycleScript = require('../run-lifecycle-script')
 const semver = require('semver')
-const stringifyPackage = require('stringify-package')
 const writeFile = require('../write-file')
+const JSON_BUMP_FILES = require('../../defaults').bumpFiles
 
 let configsToUpdate = {}
 
@@ -139,6 +137,19 @@ function bumpVersion (releaseAs, currentVersion, args) {
   })
 }
 
+function getUpdaterByFileName (filename) {
+  if (JSON_BUMP_FILES.includes(filename)) {
+    return require('../package-files/json')
+  }
+  try {
+    return require(`../package-files/${filename}.js`)
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw Error(
+      `Unsupported file (${filename}) provided for updating – please provide a custom updater.`
+    )
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * attempt to update the version number in provided `bumpFiles`
  * @param args config object
@@ -153,40 +164,34 @@ function updateConfigs (args, newVersion) {
         filename: bumpFile
       }
     }
-
     let configPath = path.resolve(process.cwd(), bumpFile.filename)
     try {
       if (dotgit.ignore(configPath)) return
       let stat = fs.lstatSync(configPath)
-      if (stat.isFile()) {
-        let data = fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8')
-        let indent = detectIndent(data).indent
-        let newline = detectNewline(data)
-
-        let config
-        if (!bumpFile.replacer) {
-          config = JSON.parse(data)
-          checkpoint(args, 'bumping version in ' + bumpFile.filename + ' from %s to %s', [config.version, newVersion])
-          config.version = newVersion
-          writeFile(args, configPath, stringifyPackage(config, indent, newline))
-        } else {
-          let matches
-          let replacement = false
-          while (
-            (matches = bumpFile.replacer.exec(data)) !== null &&
-            matches[0] !== replacement
-          ) {
-            if (!replacement) {
-              replacement = matches[0].replace(matches[1], newVersion)
-            }
-            data = data.replace(matches[1], newVersion)
-          }
-          writeFile(args, configPath, data)
-        }
-        // flag any config files that we modify the version # for
-        // as having been updated.
-        configsToUpdate[bumpFile.filename] = true
+
+      if (!stat.isFile()) return
+
+      if (!bumpFile.updater) {
+        bumpFile.updater = getUpdaterByFileName(bumpFile.filename)
+      } else {
+        bumpFile.updater = require(
+          path.resolve(process.cwd(), bumpFile.updater)
+        )
       }
+      let contents = fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8')
+      checkpoint(
+        args,
+        'bumping version in ' + bumpFile.filename + ' from %s to %s',
+        [bumpFile.updater.readVersion(contents), newVersion]
+      )
+      writeFile(
+        args,
+        configPath,
+        bumpFile.updater.writeVersion(contents, newVersion)
+      )
+      // flag any config files that we modify the version # for
+      // as having been updated.
+      configsToUpdate[bumpFile.filename] = true
     } catch (err) {
       if (err.code !== 'ENOENT') console.warn(err.message)
     }
diff --git a/lib/package-files/json.js b/lib/package-files/json.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dbe5b6f3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/package-files/json.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+const stringifyPackage = require('stringify-package')
+const detectIndent = require('detect-indent')
+const detectNewline = require('detect-newline')
+
+module.exports.readVersion = function (contents) {
+  return JSON.parse(contents).version
+}
+
+module.exports.writeVersion = function (contents, version) {
+  const json = JSON.parse(contents)
+  let indent = detectIndent(contents).indent
+  let newline = detectNewline(contents)
+  json.version = version
+  return stringifyPackage(json, indent, newline)
+}
diff --git a/lib/package-files/version.txt.js b/lib/package-files/version.txt.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18bcabed2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/package-files/version.txt.js
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+module.exports.readVersion = function (contents) {
+  return contents
+}
+
+module.exports.writeVersion = function (_contents, version) {
+  return version
+}
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index eeaca5c61..bf3e8c681 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -908,23 +908,27 @@ describe('standard-version', function () {
   })
 
   describe('custom `bumpFiles` support', function () {
-    it('mix.exs', function () {
+    it('mix.exs + version.txt', function () {
       // @todo This file path is relative to the `tmp` directory, which is a little confusing
       fs.copyFileSync('../test/mocks/mix.exs', 'mix.exs')
+      fs.copyFileSync('../test/mocks/version.txt', 'version.txt')
+      fs.copyFileSync('../test/mocks/updater/customer-updater.js', 'custom-updater.js')
       commit('feat: first commit')
       shell.exec('git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "my awesome first release"')
       commit('feat: new feature!')
       return require('./index')({
         silent: true,
         bumpFiles: [
+          'version.txt',
           {
             filename: 'mix.exs',
-            replacer: /version: "(.*)"/
+            updater: 'custom-updater.js'
           }
         ]
       })
         .then(() => {
           fs.readFileSync('mix.exs', 'utf-8').should.contain('version: "1.1.0"')
+          fs.readFileSync('version.txt', 'utf-8').should.equal('1.1.0')
         })
     })
   })
diff --git a/test/mocks/updater/customer-updater.js b/test/mocks/updater/customer-updater.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..989aba3c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mocks/updater/customer-updater.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+const REPLACER = /version: "(.*)"/
+
+module.exports.readVersion = function (contents) {
+  return REPLACER.exec(contents)[1]
+}
+
+module.exports.writeVersion = function (contents, version) {
+  return contents.replace(
+    REPLACER.exec(contents)[0],
+    `version: "${version}"`
+  )
+}
diff --git a/test/mocks/version.txt b/test/mocks/version.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb