bjc@pollux.UUCP (Betty J. Clay) (10/26/88)
Many questions have been raised here recently about the TRANSACTOR. For a while, some of the things that were happening just couldn't be discussed. Now, perhaps they can. Malcolm O'Brien, Assistant Editor of the TRANSACTOR, posted this message on CompuServe tonight, Oct. 24, in response to a question from Jeff Dege. Jeff asked, "Just what is really going on at TRANSACTOR?" And here is the reply (posted on Usenet with Malcolm's permission). Hi Jeff: Just what's going on: It's true that there is a message on the phone that we are looking for a buyer. Fact is, we've found several BUT we wanted to be sure that the buyer would: Assume the liabilities of Transactor Publishing Inc. Honour our commitments to the subscriber base and the people who have ordered other products from us, i.e. back issues, 8-bit hardware and 8-bit software. Allow us to continue to produce magazines with top quality editorial content We probably could have sold the whole ball of wax in a minute if we'd been willing to back off of any of those. From where I sit, those are the most important concerns to me; i.e. what we are (and have been for 10 years) to our readers. The other people here would second that, I'm sure. I wouldn't be here Sunday midnight if I wasn't serious about this. On Friday we received a call from one of our prospective buyers. They have consented to the points noted above and they have stated that they WILL buy. Sometime next week we expect them to come to the Transactor offices for the signing of papers and wrap up. At that time, I expect, we will hand them the film for Issue 3 and they will take it to press and it will finally appear on the North American market. We are presently finishing up Issue 4 for the U.K. and Australian divisions. I have Volume 9, Issue 2 of Transactor (Classic - the 8-bit mag) mostly done. The young-sounding voice on the answering machine is that of Richard Evers, our publisher. It's time we made a new tape... Rumours began to spread about us when Karl Hildon left the company. A lot of people (including me) thought that Transactor and Karl were the same and began to speculate negatively about Transactor's future. Those rumours served to reduce revenue which caused some problems but the real crusher came from the company that did our printing. THAT was the pivotal event in the sequence leading up to the sale of the company. The good part is that T will continue, mags will get printed and the subscribers (and newsstand readers) will get their magazines. The other good part is that we all get to keep our jobs and keep on doing what we love to do: producing the best magazines for programmers (and users) of Commodore computers. Transactor is "too good to give up", as Ricardo would say. So that's what's happening, Jeff. Please capture these messages and post them on PLINK and anywhere else you can. We're NOT dead but for awhile there we were ailing. When the deed is done, it'll be here on CIS first. I'll be on line before the ink dries <grin>. Malcolm O'Brien, Asst. Editor Transactor Transactor for the Amiga This is wonderful news for the staff at TRANSACTOR - who have gone without salary for several months now. Great news for the subscribers, great news for all of us who care about magazines of this high quality. So send in your articles, folks. The TRANSACTOR is ready to roll again. Betty Clay .......killer!pollux!bjc