About Federwelt

Federwelt

Federwelt is Germany's specialist magazine for writers, published every two months by the Uschtrin Verlag of Munich. With the tagline "Das Magazin rund ums Schreiben" (the magazine all about writing), it guides authors from idea to marketing: practical articles and interviews on writing, publishing, and self-promotion, legal and tax advice, analyses of the e-book market and digital platforms, and a calendar of literary competitions and grants. In August 2026 it published its 179th issue — nearly three decades of service to the writing community, and a rare example of a specialist magazine that has grown its circulation (from 3,000 to 4,000 copies) while staying independent and true to its founding mission.

Overview

Federwelt appears every two months — in February, April, June, August, October, and December, each on the first of the month — and is the leading German-language trade journal for authors. The print run is 4,000 copies per issue (up from 3,000 in the early 2010s); single issues cost 9.90 euros in print and 6.99 euros as PDF, with an annual print subscription at 57 euros. The magazine is available at railway-station bookshops (Bahnhofsbuchhandel) as well as directly from the publisher.

The target group is authors and the literarily interested who enjoy writing: beginners, advanced writers, and professionals whom the magazine informs, inspires, motivates, and strengthens — four verbs that define the editorial mission. Issue 179 (August 2026) featured, among others, self-publisher Celina Keute on her international reading tour across seven European countries — she wrote down what her great-grandfather experienced in World War II, self-published it, and has been touring successfully ever since — a feature on AI and the art of writing ("KI meets Schreibkunst"), and the magazine's editor Sandra Uschtrin on writing with ChatGPT — evidence of a title that engages with the profession's most current transformations rather than retreating into nostalgia.

History

Federwelt is published by the Uschtrin Verlag of Munich (Taxisstraße 15, 80637 München), founded in 1997 by Sandra Uschtrin. Uschtrin, editor of the Handbuch für Autorinnen und Autoren (Handbook for Authors), built the publishing house around the needs of writers; alongside Federwelt, the house publishes the sister magazine selfpublisher. In 2014 Sandra Uschtrin co-founded the Autorenwelt with Wilhelm Uschtrin and Angelika Fuchs — the "author-friendliest bookshop" (Autorenwelt-Shop) and authors' platform at autorenwelt.de, which is also the magazine's listed website.

The magazine's numbering tells the story: issue 95 in 2012 (15th volume), issue 100 in 2013 (16th volume), issue 162 in October 2023, issue 179 in August 2026 — a metronomic bimonthly rhythm sustained across three decades, through the rise of e-books, the self-publishing revolution, and the platform era. Sandra Uschtrin's engagement for authors was recognized in May 2019 when she was named BücherFrau des Jahres (Book Woman of the Year) by the BücherFrauen network, with the jury hoping the award would bring the Autorenwelt greater visibility in its build-up phase.

Coverage and Content

The main part of each issue consists of practice-oriented specialist articles and interviews on writing, publishing, and marketing — "Von der Ideenfindung bis zur Vermarktung" (from finding the idea to marketing it), as the cover line puts it. Beloved series include the "Textküche" (text kitchen) and "Einsendereif?" (ready to submit?), in which professionals from publishers and literary agencies comment on reading samples and short exposés — direct, practical feedback from the industry's gatekeepers, the kind of insider access that aspiring authors rarely get elsewhere. The August 2026 issue also covered the craft of storytelling itself: "Prägende Geschichten" on the formative sentences of childhood, basal action stories, and the water workshop — the magazine's commitment to the writing craft alongside the business of books.

The magazine analyzes developments in copyright contract law, (e-book) royalties, and digital platforms, and provides information on industry policy — the regulatory and market framework in which authors work, from the Urhebervertragsrecht that governs their contracts to the platform economics that determine their royalties. Recurring experts answer readers' questions: Sabine Langohr of the Keil & Keil agency on literary agencies, tax lawyer Annette Warsönke on tax law relevant to authors — the unglamorous but essential knowledge that separates the professional author from the hobbyist. Top speaker Michael Rossié contributes his course "Vorlesen für Fortgeschrittene" (reading aloud for advanced writers), because the public reading is the author's stage and a skill to be trained. Debut and bestselling authors tell vividly of their lives, experiences, and working methods; the "AutorInnen daheim" (authors at home) rubric satisfies readers' curiosity about how successful writers live — the desks, the routines, the domestic arrangements behind the books. These portraits serve a double function: inspiration and demystification, showing that the writing life is a working life with its own disciplines and compromises.

Every issue carries a Pinnwand (bulletin board) with dates and links to helpful web addresses, two pages of short news, a calendar of literary competitions and grants — the practical infrastructure of the writing life, where a deadline met can mean a stipend won — and for fun, the FEDERWELT cartoon, the magazine's visual signature and a reminder that the writing life, for all its seriousness, has its comic side. Earlier issues also included around ten pages of primary texts (short prose and poems) per 68-page issue. The August 2026 issue's AI coverage — Sandra Uschtrin's exploration of writing with ChatGPT — shows the magazine addressing the technology reshaping authorship itself.

Organization and Ownership

Federwelt is published by the Uschtrin Verlag, Munich (Taxisstraße 15, 80637 München; service@uschtrin.de, phone 07543/9531080). The publisher and editor is Sandra Uschtrin, founder of the publishing house (1997), editor of the Handbuch für Autorinnen und Autoren, co-founder of the Autorenwelt (2014), and BücherFrau des Jahres 2019. The Uschtrin Verlag also publishes the sister magazine selfpublisher, focused on self-publishing.

As an independent specialist publisher serving the authors' community, the magazine's economics combine subscriptions and single-copy sales (including the railway-station bookshop channel, which reaches the traveling reader), PDF sales through online shops, and the synergy with the Autorenwelt platform and the publisher's handbook program. The Autorenwelt-Shop's positioning — "the author-friendliest bookshop," where buying books directly supports authors — extends the magazine's community mission into commerce. The 4,000-copy print run reflects a niche but loyal audience: authors are, by definition, readers, and the magazine's community is self-reinforcing. Circulation figures beyond the stated run and financial details are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The magazine's digital home is autorenwelt.de — the Autorenwelt platform that Sandra Uschtrin co-founded in 2014 — where the current issue's articles are excerpted and presented. Individual issues are sold as PDFs and e-books through numerous online shops (6.99 euros), and the magazine is listed on Google Play Books and e-book platforms such as Vivlio, whose sample pages document the current issues.

The Autorenwelt ecosystem — magazine, shop, author profiles, community features — gives Federwelt a digital reach beyond the print run: the platform's author search, the "autorenfreundlichster Buchladen" (most author-friendly bookshop) positioning, and the community tools connect the magazine's readers with each other, turning a readership into a network. For a writers' magazine, this integration of periodical, platform, and shop is the contemporary form of the literary community the print title has served since 1997: informing, inspiring, motivating, and strengthening authors — from the first idea to the marketing of the finished book, and from the solitary desk to the shared public of the writing world.