At Least Two Suiters Seek GAM Assets 

A large number of folks are in a state of shock and dismay over the closing of Graphic Arts Monthly Magazine and its web site Graphicartsonline. It was not unexpected. The parent company, UK based Reed Business as been for sale for quite a while and has been divesting magazines right and left. It was pretty clear that whoever bought RBI would be unlikely to keep all the remaining titles, and the US market was particularly vulnerable.

Still, GAM has been a pillar of the industry for many years, and you don't have to have written for them to realize the publication had a very high status in the business.

Many of the bloggers and writers have been talking together about doing "their own thing," and as apart of that group, I don't think I'm out of line in reporting that discussions are ongoing. But they are also looking at other possibilities, and Brian Lawler, for one has signed on with What they Think.

Where folks will wind up is difficult to tell.

But GAM may rise again.

Former Publisher Phil Saran is actively seeking to buy the assets of the magazine and web site and may close on the deal by the end of this week. He has been talking to writers and asking them not to jump ship.

That should be good news to a lot of folks.

Randy Davidson, owner of WhatThey Think reports his company is also making an offer for the GAM assets. Davidson says,"Whether a deal can be made or if there is enough value to make it worth Reed's time is the question. And we have been in touch with some of the key writers too. Lots of good folks and GAM had a good brand. There still may be time."

We'll have to wait and see what happens, but Printoolz has some ties to GAM, not only because I have written for the magazine, blogged for the web site and worked on their forums. The idea of Printoolz and upgrade of the forums was embraced by Phil Saran while he was the magazine's publisher, but it never really went anywhere because the parent company never really embraced that vision.

Might it happen now? Too early to tell.




POPON - Point of Purchase Online Network Featuring Stephen Beals