Lately, I've been thinking about rebranding. Even as I write this, I'm not entirely sure where I'll land on it. But unfortunately, branding is one of those things that authors have to think about when trying to gain notice and have people buy their books. And I do wonder if I might have outgrown mine.
In 2013, I started using thetomatowriter on my social media accounts. It was around the time that I was watching Game of Thrones and about a year before I lost interest in Game of Thrones. In my head, I was playing off of "The Onion Knight" in a way that no one would really catch unless I explained it. My last name -- Roma -- is, of course, a type of tomato. I'm a writer. Thus I'm The Tomato Writer.
I think at the time, my cousin was also calling herself Kentucky Tomato on Facebook. Not long after I started, my dad also started calling himself The Tomato Lawyer on his Twitter account (and later Bluesky). It was all a fun little bit for us Romas.
So when I became a freelance blogger and I needed to create a DBA, I chose The Tomato Writer. It was already how I was found on most accounts so, again, it was convenient. My clients often told me they got a good chuckle out of it. And when I started talking about the book I was publishing, the news went out across all my The Tomato Writer accounts.
The Tomato Writer and I have been through a lot together. I mean, it's been thirteen years -- the vast majority of my adult life. The Tomato Writer has been good to me. So why am I thinking about changing it?
Does This Represent Me or My Work?
To be honest, I've never liked tomatoes. I mean, maybe it's because I am a tomato? So that would be cannibalism. But when you think about the things you could put in the points of a pentagram to summon Alex Roma, tomatoes are pretty far from it. (I guess unless it's my family? I mean, diving in headfirst to rescue your family is a fantasy adventure trope I love to keep coming back to. Okay, this isn't the point.)
I started chafing against this a little bit when I decided to make an author discord server. I named it The Tomato Patch, because that kind of fit as a hub to find out all your author news about me, The Tomato Writer. And I immediately kind of hated that.
I feel like when you think of a tomato patch, you think of a cozy farming story or a series of blog posts about someone's clean eating journey. I had just put out an angsty, dramatic romantic fantasy adventure with court intrigue that veers darker and heavier as the story goes on. Less Stardew Valley and more Fire Emblem. And most of my stories lean towards dramatic fantasy adventures more than they do cozy farming slice of life tales. Similarly whenever I started a blog, I wanted to fill my blog themes with aesthetics of dark, deep forests or antique writing desks. This seemed at odds with my more pastoral username.
How Much Do Vibes Matter?
For the most part in my career so far, a little discrepancy between my social media monikers and the vibes of my writing hasn't mattered much. But I think this is because most of my readers know me. They know why I chose The Tomato Writer, and they also know the kind of stories I like to tell. They don't think much of it.
But obviously I would love for my stories to break that bubble and be picked up by new readers, too. From that perspective, if someone on Bluesky and TikTok goes by "thetomatowriter" and calls their author discord The Tomato Patch, what kind of stories would they expect? Would they be confused by the kind of stories I put out? Or disappointed?
Or am I thinking too much?
I'm sure there are branding professionals who would say that actually, yes, your social media names and what you call yourself online must perfectly encapsulate the brand you want to curate. Or that I shouldn't have tried to be clever in the first place and should have just used my full name. (But that's booooooooring, says the petty dramatic part of me.) But you could also argue that those branding professionals need to make a living. (I mean, I've been a digital marketer, I know.)
Still, there is something to idea of setting expectations. Branding, while I do think it gets blown out of proportion, exists for a reason. What can people expect from me or, in this case, my writing? Because it isn't cozy farming stories or clean eating blog posts. (I say as I eat a box of Rice-a-Roni.)
The Key Of Consistency
At the same time, it's probably more important that people know where to find you online. That gets confusing if you have five or six different social media handles. Of course, the point of rebranding would be to make all of your social media handles consistent.
But, and I know this is not something I should put on my writerly blog where I posit myself as a writer and want people to read my books, bruh that's so much work. Like I said, I've had my email for 13 years. There's so many contacts that would need to know about the change, there are so many accounts I would have to change. And then on top of that is my social media.
And even once all that is done, you'll likely still have people who didn't know about the rebrand and might lose you. Of course, all of this can be mitigated. There are tools that can make rebranding easier. People rebrand every day. The fact that it's hard should not be a reason not to do it. But I do think it could be a reason to stop and figure out if this is the right call for me. Which is, I suppose, the reason for this sort of stream of consciousness blog.
A Compromise To Be Found
Maybe there is a middle ground here, something like I've had with this blog since the beginning. But first backing up to my newsletter.
At one point last year, I changed my newsletter format to a more casual, letter writing sort of format. When I did so, I wanted a name that matched it - something a little more whimsical and romantic, a little more like the vibe that I would honestly like to put out with my author brand. I chose the name "inksplattered musings."
It wouldn't work as an email address or a social media handle, because I'm not always musing. But it was a good title for a format in which I was sharing my thoughts. When I started this blog, I chose to use the same name for the title. But my username on both is still thetomatowriter.
It's not a perfect solution, but I think it possibly satisfies what I need for now. By using thetomatowriter for the handle, it makes it easy for people to find me. However, the vibe that they're met with when they go to that handle immediately dispels any imagery of tomatoes and farm life. At least, I hope it does.
So at the end of this, I may have in fact been overthinking the whole rebranding thing. I think for now I can leave thetomatowriter to do what it does best: give people a way to find me. Then I can use my personality to tell them what to expect.
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