Wißner Verlag

What Wißner Verlag does

Wißner Verlag is a German publishing house headquartered at Im Tal 12, 86179 Augsburg, that specialized in regional literature, music programs, children's books, and reference works centered on Augsburg and the surrounding Bavarian/Schwaben region. Its flagship product was the Stadtlexikon Augsburg, an online encyclopedia with over 3,000 entries covering the history of one of Germany's oldest cities from Roman times to the present, originally created in 1985 by Perlach-Verlag's Karl-Veit Walch and digitized by Wißner-Verlag after it acquired the rights in 2007. Beyond the free-access encyclopedia, the company's catalog included music programs, children's books, regional literature, and the Toni Ludwig crime series, all targeted at general readers, scholars, and educational institutions in the Augsburg region.

The business operated as a family-owned GmbH & Co. KG under managing director Dr. Bernd Wißner, with no disclosed technology stack beyond the digital encyclopedia platform and no public reporting of revenue or headcount. The Stadtlexikon was offered free of charge to maximize access for educational and scholarly use, while remaining titles were sold through traditional book distribution channels. No AI, API, SDK, or proprietary software products were disclosed, and the company maintained minimal public social media or app presence.

Effective December 31, 2025, Wißner-Verlag announced it is discontinuing all publishing operations, with the legal entity now in liquidation (GmbH & Co. KG i.L.) and remaining reachable only for administrative wind-down purposes until December 31, 2026. The entire music program was transferred to Hollitzer-Verlag, parts of the children's books and regional literature catalog to Lama-Verlag, individual titles to Verlag Edition Helden, and the Toni Ludwig crime series to Verlag edition:Schwaben. The Stadtlexikon Augsburg digital encyclopedia remains temporarily accessible but is slated to be revised through other channels.

Name

Wißner Verlag

Legal name

Wißner‑Verlag GmbH & Co. KG i.L.

Website

https://wissner.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Wißner Verlag is a German publishing house based in Augsburg that published regional literature, music programs, children's books, and the Stadtlexikon Augsburg online encyclopedia. The company ceased all publishing operations effective December 31, 2025, and is now in liquidation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Book Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Interdisciplinary & Multidisciplinary Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE), Publishing Administration (Catalog Admin, Global Subpublishing) (MPAIABAB)

Keywords

• Regional book publishing
• Music program publishing
• Children's book publishing
• Online city encyclopedia
• Regional history literature

Headquarters

HQ city

Augsburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Core offering

Wißner-Verlag was a traditional German publishing house based in Augsburg that acquired, edited, produced, and distributed authored works — including music programs, children's books, regional Schwaben literature, and the Toni Ludwig crime series. Its flagship digital offering was the Stadtlexikon Augsburg, a free online encyclopedia covering the history of Augsburg with over 3,000 entries. The company announced the discontinuation of its business operations as of December 31, 2025.

Product overview

Wißner Verlag was a traditional publishing company offering books and digital products. The primary product was the Stadtlexikon Augsburg, a comprehensive online encyclopedia about Augsburg's history with over 3000 entries. The company also published music programs, children's books, regional literature, and a crime series. The publishing company has ceased operations as of December 31, 2025.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Stadtlexikon Augsburg (Online) A free online encyclopedia covering the history of Augsburg, Germany's second-oldest city, containing more than 3,000 entries plus 16 thematic overview articles on political, economic, and cultural history. Articles are continuously updated, time-stamped, and remain citable; targeted at students, scholars, teachers, and general readers interested in Augsburg city history.
• Music Program (book catalog) Published music-related titles — part of Wißner-Verlag's regional Augsburg/Schwaben catalog — covering the music programs and music-focused output of the publishing house.
• Children's Books (catalog) Children's book titles published by Wißner-Verlag as part of its regional catalog.
• Toni Ludwig Crime Series Regional crime fiction series by author Toni Ludwig, originally published by Wißner-Verlag as part of its Schwaben-focused fiction catalog.

Quantifiable outcome

• Stadtlexikon Augsburg contains over 3000 encyclopedia entries covering the history of Germany's second-oldest city

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Hollitzer-VerlagminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUpon ceasing operations, Wißner Verlag transferred its music program catalog to Hollitzer-Verlag for continued publication and distribution.
• Lama-VerlagminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUpon ceasing operations, Wißner Verlag transferred part of its children's books and regional literature catalog to Lama-Verlag for continued publication.
• Verlag Edition HeldenminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUpon ceasing operations, individual titles from Wißner Verlag's catalog were transferred to Verlag Edition Helden for continued availability.
• Verlag edition:SchwabenminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUpon ceasing operations, the Toni Ludwig crime series was transferred to Verlag edition:Schwaben for continued publication.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Verlag edition:Schwaben: Regional publisher focused on the Schwaben (Swabia) area that took over Wißner's Toni Ludwig crime series at wind-down. Operates in the same Augsburg/Bavarian regional niche and now serves as the direct successor for that crime-fiction line.
• Verlag Edition Helden: Publisher that absorbed individual titles from the Wißner catalog at wind-down. Operates in the regional German publishing space and serves as a successor distributor for select Wißner titles, making it directly comparable on regional catalog operations.
• Lama-Verlag: German publisher that absorbed part of Wißner-Verlag's children's books and regional literature catalog at wind-down. Operates in the same regional literature and children's book categories as Wißner and serves as the direct successor for those catalog lines.
• Hollitzer-Verlag: Austrian music publisher that acquired Wißner-Verlag's entire music program upon the latter's cessation. Operates in the same niche music-publishing segment and now serves as the direct successor for Wißner's music titles, making it the most directly comparable peer.

Regional players

• Schwabenverlag: Stuttgart-based publisher specializing in regional content for the Schwaben/Swabia region. Operates in the same Bavarian/Swabian regional niche that Wißner-Verlag served, with overlapping focus on regional literature, history, and culture.
• Bayerland-Verlag: Munich-based publisher focused on Bavarian regional content, history, and culture. Operates in an overlapping Bavarian regional niche with comparable subject matter and a similar small-publisher footprint.

Broad incumbents

• Perlach-Verlag: Augsburg-based publisher (Karl-Veit Walch) that originally created and published the printed Stadtlexikon Augsburg in 1985 before selling the rights to Wißner-Verlag in 2007. Operates in the same Augsburg regional publishing space and is the historical predecessor for the company's flagship encyclopedia property.
• Friedrich Pustet Verlag: Long-established Bavarian publisher (Regensburg) with a broad regional catalog spanning academic, religious, and regional titles. Overlaps with Wißner's humanities/regional publishing focus and represents a larger incumbent in the same geographic market.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Wissnerverlag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wißner Verlag