diff --git a/writer.go b/writer.go
index 3817bf53..ff006c9b 100644
--- a/writer.go
+++ b/writer.go
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ type Writer struct {
 	BatchBytes int64
 
 	// Time limit on how often incomplete message batches will be flushed to
-	// kafka.
+	// kafka. This is ignored if SendPartialBatch is set to true
 	//
 	// The default is to flush at least every second.
 	BatchTimeout time.Duration
@@ -158,6 +158,13 @@ type Writer struct {
 	// Defaults to false.
 	Async bool
 
+	// SendPartialBatch forces WriteMessages to send a partial batch instead of
+	// blocking until a full batch is made. This is useful if you are already batching
+	// messages before the producer, and want to flush everything sent to WriteMessages
+	// without blocking while also still being synchronous. When set BatchTimeout does
+	// nothing.
+	SendPartialBatch bool
+
 	// An optional function called when the writer succeeds or fails the
 	// delivery of messages to a kafka partition. When writing the messages
 	// fails, the `err` parameter will be non-nil.
@@ -276,6 +283,13 @@ type WriterConfig struct {
 	// The default is to use a kafka default value of 1048576.
 	BatchBytes int
 
+	// SendPartialBatch forces WriteMessages to send a partial batch instead of
+	// blocking until a full batch is made. This is useful if you are already batching
+	// messages before the producer, and want to flush everything sent to WriteMessages
+	// without blocking while also still being synchronous. When set BatchTimeout does
+	// nothing.
+	SendPartialBatch bool
+
 	// Time limit on how often incomplete message batches will be flushed to
 	// kafka.
 	//
@@ -487,22 +501,23 @@ func NewWriter(config WriterConfig) *Writer {
 	}
 
 	w := &Writer{
-		Addr:         TCP(config.Brokers...),
-		Topic:        config.Topic,
-		MaxAttempts:  config.MaxAttempts,
-		BatchSize:    config.BatchSize,
-		Balancer:     config.Balancer,
-		BatchBytes:   int64(config.BatchBytes),
-		BatchTimeout: config.BatchTimeout,
-		ReadTimeout:  config.ReadTimeout,
-		WriteTimeout: config.WriteTimeout,
-		RequiredAcks: RequiredAcks(config.RequiredAcks),
-		Async:        config.Async,
-		Logger:       config.Logger,
-		ErrorLogger:  config.ErrorLogger,
-		Transport:    transport,
-		transport:    transport,
-		writerStats:  stats,
+		Addr:             TCP(config.Brokers...),
+		Topic:            config.Topic,
+		MaxAttempts:      config.MaxAttempts,
+		BatchSize:        config.BatchSize,
+		Balancer:         config.Balancer,
+		BatchBytes:       int64(config.BatchBytes),
+		BatchTimeout:     config.BatchTimeout,
+		SendPartialBatch: config.SendPartialBatch,
+		ReadTimeout:      config.ReadTimeout,
+		WriteTimeout:     config.WriteTimeout,
+		RequiredAcks:     RequiredAcks(config.RequiredAcks),
+		Async:            config.Async,
+		Logger:           config.Logger,
+		ErrorLogger:      config.ErrorLogger,
+		Transport:        transport,
+		transport:        transport,
+		writerStats:      stats,
 	}
 
 	if config.RequiredAcks == 0 {
@@ -1059,13 +1074,26 @@ func (ptw *partitionWriter) writeMessages(msgs []Message, indexes []int32) map[*
 			batches[batch] = append(batches[batch], i)
 		}
 	}
+
+	// if we are sending partial batches and the current batch is not empty send
+	// the batch right away instead of lagging.
+	if ptw.w.SendPartialBatch && !ptw.currBatch.empty() {
+		ptw.currBatch.trigger()
+		ptw.queue.Put(ptw.currBatch)
+		ptw.currBatch = nil
+	}
+
 	return batches
 }
 
 // ptw.w can be accessed here because this is called with the lock ptw.mutex already held.
 func (ptw *partitionWriter) newWriteBatch() *writeBatch {
 	batch := newWriteBatch(time.Now(), ptw.w.batchTimeout())
-	ptw.w.spawn(func() { ptw.awaitBatch(batch) })
+	// if we are sending partial batches we don't need to wait for a timeout
+	if !ptw.w.SendPartialBatch {
+		ptw.w.spawn(func() { ptw.awaitBatch(batch) })
+	}
+
 	return batch
 }
 
@@ -1239,6 +1267,11 @@ func (b *writeBatch) full(maxSize int, maxBytes int64) bool {
 	return b.size >= maxSize || b.bytes >= maxBytes
 }
 
+// empty returns if the batch has no data in it at all
+func (b *writeBatch) empty() bool {
+	return b == nil || b.size == 0
+}
+
 func (b *writeBatch) trigger() {
 	close(b.ready)
 }
diff --git a/writer_test.go b/writer_test.go
index 6f894ecd..1b89dde7 100644
--- a/writer_test.go
+++ b/writer_test.go
@@ -450,6 +450,61 @@ func readPartition(topic string, partition int, offset int64) (msgs []Message, e
 	}
 }
 
+func testWriterPartailBatch(t *testing.T) {
+	topic := makeTopic()
+	createTopic(t, topic, 1)
+	defer deleteTopic(t, topic)
+
+	offset, err := readOffset(topic, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	w := newTestWriter(WriterConfig{
+		Topic:            topic,
+		BatchBytes:       75,
+		SendPartialBatch: true,
+		Balancer:         &RoundRobin{},
+	})
+	defer w.Close()
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	if err := w.WriteMessages(ctx, []Message{
+		// first batch
+		{Value: []byte("M0")}, // 25 Bytes
+		{Value: []byte("M1")}, // 25 Bytes
+		{Value: []byte("M2")}, // 25 Bytes
+		// second batch
+		{Value: []byte("M3")}, // 25 Bytes
+	}...); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if w.Stats().Writes != 2 {
+		t.Error("didn't create expected batches")
+		return
+	}
+	msgs, err := readPartition(topic, 0, offset)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("error reading partition", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if len(msgs) != 4 {
+		t.Error("bad messages in partition", msgs)
+		return
+	}
+
+	for i, m := range msgs {
+		if string(m.Value) == "M"+strconv.Itoa(i) {
+			continue
+		}
+		t.Error("bad messages in partition", string(m.Value))
+	}
+}
+
 func testWriterBatchBytes(t *testing.T) {
 	topic := makeTopic()
 	createTopic(t, topic, 1)