Kickstarter becomes one of the world’s biggest graphic novel publishers

There’s been a lot of buzz in recent months about authors using Kickstarter to raise funding for their books, and now research by Publishers Weekly suggests that the website has effectively become one of the world’s biggest graphic novel publishers.

The crowdfunding site has raised millions of dollars for a range of graphic novel projects that likely would not have seen the light of day if they had been conventionally produced. The Publishers Weekly research found that on a revenue basis, Kickstarter can be counted as either the 2nd or 4th biggest graphic novel publisher (depending on how figures are calculated), putting it up there with the likes of Marvel, DC and Image.

Costs for graphic novels published via Kickstarter remain considerably higher than costs for graphic novels published by the traditional companies, with the latter enjoying considerable benefits from economy of scale. Nevertheless, the overall trend is that crowdfunding is being shown to be viable and, once again, the comics world seems to be setting an example that the broader publishing industry might do well to consider.