diff --git a/lib/kafkalib/writer.go b/lib/kafkalib/writer.go
index abad1caa..fc9ca961 100644
--- a/lib/kafkalib/writer.go
+++ b/lib/kafkalib/writer.go
@@ -90,23 +90,27 @@ func buildKafkaMessage(topicPrefix string, rawMessage lib.RawMessage) (KafkaMess
 	}
 
 	return KafkaMessage{
-		Topic: fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", topicPrefix, rawMessage.TopicSuffix()),
-		Key:   keyBytes,
-		Value: valueBytes,
+		Topic:        fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", topicPrefix, rawMessage.TopicSuffix()),
+		MessageKey:   keyBytes,
+		MessageValue: valueBytes,
 	}, nil
 }
 
 type KafkaMessage struct {
-	Topic string `json:"topic"`
-	Key   []byte `json:"key"`
-	Value []byte `json:"value"`
+	Topic        string `json:"topic"`
+	MessageKey   []byte `json:"messageKey"`
+	MessageValue []byte `json:"messageValue"`
+}
+
+func (k KafkaMessage) Key() string {
+	return string(k.MessageKey)
 }
 
 func (k KafkaMessage) toKafkaMessage() kafka.Message {
 	return kafka.Message{
 		Topic: k.Topic,
-		Key:   k.Key,
-		Value: k.Value,
+		Key:   k.MessageKey,
+		Value: k.MessageValue,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -120,7 +124,7 @@ func (b *BatchWriter) write(ctx context.Context, messages []KafkaMessage, sample
 		return err
 	}
 
-	return batch.BySize[KafkaMessage](messages, int(b.writer.BatchBytes), encoder, func(chunk [][]byte) error {
+	return batch.BySize[KafkaMessage](messages, int(b.writer.BatchBytes), false, encoder, func(chunk [][]byte) error {
 		tags := map[string]string{"what": "error"}
 		defer func() {
 			if b.statsD != nil {
@@ -141,13 +145,10 @@ func (b *BatchWriter) write(ctx context.Context, messages []KafkaMessage, sample
 
 		err = retry.WithRetries(retryCfg, func(_ int, _ error) error {
 			publishErr := b.writer.WriteMessages(ctx, kafkaMessages...)
-			if isExceedMaxMessageBytesErr(publishErr) {
-				slog.Info("Skipping this batch since the message size exceeded the server max")
-				return nil
-			}
-
-			if err = b.reload(ctx); err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("failed to reload kafka writer: %w", err)
+			if isRetryableError(publishErr) {
+				if err = b.reload(ctx); err != nil {
+					return fmt.Errorf("failed to reload kafka writer: %w", err)
+				}
 			}
 
 			return publishErr