About Handwerk

Handwerk

The handwerk magazin is Germany's only nationwide, cross-trade business magazine for entrepreneurs in the skilled crafts, published eleven times a year by Holzmann Medien. Since its first issue in 1986, it has addressed the owners and managers of craft businesses with journalism focused not on manual technique but on the entrepreneurial side of the trade: business management, finance, taxation, law, marketing and investment decisions. With a widely distributed circulation and a top ranking among monthly titles read by the self-employed, the magazine presents itself as essential reading for craft entrepreneurs who want to run their businesses more professionally. Its editorial concept pairs each print article with online tools and services on handwerk-magazin.de, making the brand a cross-media advisory platform for the German Mittelstand craft sector.

Overview

The handwerk magazin occupies a distinctive niche in the German specialist press. While most craft publications address the technical practice of individual trades, from baking to metalworking, the handwerk magazin speaks to the craft business owner as an entrepreneur. Its target readers are self-employed master craftsmen, managing directors of craft enterprises, and master craftsman students about to found or take over a business. The editorial promise is practical business value: every article is designed to deliver maximum practical benefit combined with reading pleasure, supported by clearly structured fact boxes that allow busy entrepreneurs to absorb the essentials quickly.

The magazine appears eleven times a year, monthly with a combined double issue in the summer, and is distributed nationwide across all craft trades, from construction and finishing trades to automotive, food, health and personal-service crafts. According to the publisher's media data, the print run stands at 50,000 copies with an actually distributed circulation of 58,358 copies in the second quarter of 2026, figures audited by the IVW. In the LAE 2026, the readership analysis of decision-makers in business and administration, the handwerk magazin ranked first among monthly titles in the self-employed segment, and together with the Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung it reaches a combined 620,000 readers per issue without overlap.

The brand extends well beyond print. The website handwerk-magazin.de functions as a service portal with practical working aids, calculation tools and checklists for small and medium-sized businesses, and every print article is linked to supplementary online material. Two newsletters, the weekly Unternehmertipp and the monthly Steuern und Recht, keep readers supplied with business tips and updates on tax and legal developments. The publisher also organises awards, events, seminars and webinars under the handwerk magazin brand, turning the magazine into a platform for the professional development of craft entrepreneurs.

History

The handwerk magazin was first published in 1986, at a time when the German craft sector was beginning to confront the management challenges of a modernising economy. The founding concept was strikingly different from the existing craft press: instead of addressing journeymen and masters with technical instruction, the new magazine would address the craft entrepreneur with business journalism. The publisher was Holzmann Medien, the media company led by the Holzmann family, which developed the title into the flagship of its craft-sector portfolio.

Over the nearly four decades since, the magazine has tracked the transformation of the German craft trades. The 1990s brought German reunification and the integration of the East German craft sector into the market economy, a process the magazine covered from the entrepreneur's perspective. The 2000s saw the rise of digital business tools, changing customer expectations and growing regulatory complexity, all of which became staples of the magazine's coverage. The title's supplements evolved over the years: the ZDB catalogue records additions such as Beruf and Bildung, Junghandwerk aktuell, Domo, Handwerk extra, Themen des Handwerks and Mittelstand extra, reflecting the broadening of the editorial programme.

The magazine has kept its monthly rhythm with a summer double issue throughout its history, and its circulation model has long combined paid subscriptions with a large proportion of complimentary copies distributed to craft businesses, a common pattern in the German B2B press that ensures broad coverage of the target group. Editorial leadership has changed over the years; the current editor-in-chief is Patrick Neumann, and the publisher is Alexander Holzmann. The magazine's positioning as the number one title among monthly magazines for the self-employed, as measured by the LAE, has been a consistent claim in its media data and underlines the title's standing in the competitive market for business media aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises.

Content and Sections

The editorial structure of the handwerk magazin is organised around business disciplines rather than craft trades. The section Markt and Innovationen covers market developments, new business models and technological trends affecting craft enterprises, from digitalisation and artificial intelligence to sustainable business practices. Betrieb and Management addresses the day-to-day running of the business: leadership, personnel management, organisation, succession planning and the challenges of finding skilled workers in a tight labour market. Finanzen and Versicherungen covers business financing, from classic bank loans to alternative financing methods, as well as insurance provision and retirement planning for entrepreneurs and personal investment.

Steuern und Recht is one of the magazine's signature sections, explaining developments in labour and tax law, court rulings and legislative changes in terms that non-specialist business owners can apply. Each issue also carries a cover story on a current business topic, frequently addressing major investment decisions where entrepreneurs need a high degree of certainty: fleet management, IT and telecommunications equipment, and the purchase and financing of machinery. These investment-focused features combine product comparisons, financing calculations and case studies from craft businesses that have already made the decision.

Portraits and best-practice features put the entrepreneur at the centre of the reporting, presenting successful craft business owners with their values, achievements and strategies. The editorial approach is deliberately personal and narrative, aiming to inspire as well as inform. Special issues, such as the Gründer special for business founders, provide concentrated guidance for readers at particular stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Every article is linked to the website, where readers find checklists, form templates, interactive calculators and tests that turn the print content into practical working tools.

Publisher and Organization

The handwerk magazin is published by Holzmann Medien GmbH and Co. KG, a German specialist media company focused on the craft trades and related sectors. The publisher of the magazine is Alexander Holzmann, and the editor-in-chief is Patrick Neumann. Holzmann Medien presents the title as the only nationwide, cross-trade business magazine for craft entrepreneurs in Germany, a claim that defines its market position against both regional craft newspapers and general SME business titles.

The magazine appears eleven times a year, with a double issue covering the summer months. The publisher's media data for 2026 reports a print run of 50,000 copies and an IVW-audited actually distributed circulation of 58,358 copies in the second quarter of 2026, of which a substantial share are complimentary copies. The AWA Selbstständigen-Kombi, a combination offer with the Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung, reaches a combined 620,000 readers per issue without overlap according to the AWA 2026. The LAE 2026 ranked the handwerk magazin first among monthly titles in the self-employed segment. The editorial operation is supported by the publisher's digital team, which maintains the website, the newsletters and the social media channels, and by the events business that organises the brand's awards, seminars and webinars.

Digital Presence

The digital arm of the handwerk magazin is handwerk-magazin.de, which the publisher describes as a service portal for craft entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises. The website complements the print magazine with daily updated news and in-depth online dossiers, and it hosts the practical tools that are the brand's digital signature: checklists, form templates, interactive calculators and self-tests linked to current articles and topics. The site's reach is audited by the IVW, giving media planners verified digital audience data for banner and native advertising formats.

Two newsletters extend the brand's digital relationship with its readers. The weekly Unternehmertipp delivers business news on management, finance, law and taxation together with concrete working aids, while the monthly Steuern und Recht newsletter, aimed at subscribers, reports on current court rulings and legislative changes in business-relevant tax and legal areas. A special edition, Unternehmertipp spezial, appears weekly with focused topics. The brand is also active on social media, with channels on Facebook and Instagram providing followers with current specialist information from the craft sector. Awards, events, seminars and webinars round out the cross-media offering, making the handwerk magazin a full-service information and networking platform for Germany's craft entrepreneurs rather than merely a print magazine with a website.