After a Hard Year, Kickstarter Bounces Back By Calvin Reid | Dec 11, 2020 Despite the pandemic, and the round of layoffs and buyouts it heralded, Kickstarter continues to be an important source of funding for independent comics creators, self-published prose authors, and small publishers. Since the crowdfunding platform launched back in 2009, the comics category has raised more than $127 million, according to the company. So far in 2020, the comics category has a 73% success rate and has raised more than $25 million (across more than 1,683 projects). The previous best year for comics was 2019, when it generated $16.9 million in donations across 1,598 projects. But much like every business, Kickstarter was hammered by the pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdowns, with new campaigns declining by as much as 40% in March and April. The resulting drop of revenue forced it to announce a round of 25 layoffs in May, in addition to 30 employee buyouts negotiated between management and Kickstarter United, the union representing Kickstarter employees that launched in February 2020.