9 reasons Kickstarter projects ship late

Most Kickstarter creators are small-time entrepreneurs. Sometimes, life events unavoidably knock them off course.

Rich Burlew, the artist behind the comic The Order of the Stick, set up his Kickstarter to reprint older books that had sold out. He also included extra rewards to entice backers, including original drawings and autographed books.

Those seemingly simple extras became impossible for Burlew to fulfill after a freak accident on September 18. He was washing a glass canister when it suddenly shattered, severing tendons, nerves and an artery in his right hand. Burlew was rushed to the emergency room for immediate surgery, and the healing process has been slow.

Fewer than 50% of those hand-drawn or hand-written rewards shipped "before my thumb was no longer able to hold a marker," Burlew told CNNMoney. At that point, he'd also made little progress on new digital comics promised to all backers.

Burlew is in physical therapy now, and he says he hopes to begin drawing again -- at least in "short bursts" -- in early 2013. -Julianne Pepitone

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