Help with Kickstarter Project, Please

[Neo-Scholastic]

Has anyone else had experience with Kickstarter or crowd funding in general? My project is a ballpoint pen designed specifically for the needs of people with arthritis, but it also helps people with cerebral palsy and essential tremors.

Quality Pen for People with Arthritis

I’m having trouble gaining traction for my project. Other than AF I don’t have a very large social media network. I’m thinking that if I get many people to at least look, the project ranking might improve so the project gets more exposure. Alternatively, if anyone also wants to make a pledge, it would be a big boost in bringing this important project to life.

Thanks in advance for your advice and assistance! And a special thanks to AF admin for letting me make this post. - Chad

[Alex K]

Chad, start a social media presence! Why not tweet and facebook about it -

[Little lunch]

How does it deal with tremors?
Is it similar to Liftware?
Or are you talking about relatively small tremors compared to Parkinson's.
Just asking out of interest. I'm going into aged/disability care soon and I'm checking out all the disability gadgets. :-)

[Little lunch]

PS. If you're designing things to help people then you've gone up a notch in my book. :-)

[Neo-Scholastic]

How does it deal with tremors?
Is it similar to Liftware?
Or are you talking about relatively small tremors compared to Parkinson's.
Just asking out of interest. I'm going into aged/disability care soon and I'm checking out all the disability gadgets. :-)

With respect to writing, there are two issues: holding the pen tip on the surface and controlling unwanted lateral movement. For the last part a heavy pen with more mass provides better control because it takes more force to move an object with greater mass. Thus, intentional effort will move the pen as desired whereas, involuntary movements with less force won't as much. People with tremors also do better with hefty eating utensils that work using the same principle.

Second a pen that is more heavily weighted toward the tip, reduces the amount of pressure required to hold it to the writing surface. That's more important for people with arthritis since it reduces the amount of grip strength required to press down.

If you are curious about tremors, I would suggest looking up "essential temors". It is much more common that Parkinson's disease.

[Doubting Thomas]

My sister-in-law has essential tremors. I noticed years ago her hand shake a bit while eating, and I was concerned that she might have Parkinson's.

I don't know what's in store for me in the future, since my dad always had shaky hands, but they were minor shakes and he never had problems eating or writing. It's just that when he was working on something it was hard for him to keep his hands still. We always just called it the "family shakes."

[Neo-Scholastic]

My sister-in-law has essential tremors.  I noticed years ago her hand shake a bit while eating, and I was concerned that she might have Parkinson's.

Has she ever tried using wrist weights?

[Edwardo Piet]

I have a familial tremor. It's very mild and I don't have one a lot of the time. But I do sometimes.

I'm pretty sure this is for more severe tremors.

I don't like to write... I type.

[Jenny A]

Wooters,

It looks like a worthy project, but AF is not a very big place. Nor is it is it really related to or likely to be heavy in the demographics likely to use the pen.

There are support groups online for virtually every ailment. I would google for them and then read the posting rules carefully. You may be allowed to post about your pen in a number of them as it would be related to their function. Does your wife belong to any relevant support groups? If she does, she should do the promoting in those groups.

Senior groups would be another good relevant place to go.

Do join and use Facebook. Many support groups reside on Facebook. Again does your wide have a presence there?

I have had some luck promoting artwork with twitter. Search for relevant terms like arteritis and follow people who tweet about the subject. Often they will follow you back. Tweet about uses for the pen, how you came to develope it, and even minor fund raising successes. Get a picture of the pen in your profile. Don't be all pen, all the time. Tweet about articles related to the conditions the pen helps.

Are there inventors forums or groups you might be interested in? Join them.

Enlist friends and relatives to mention your pen on Facebook and elsewhere. Links are golden. The more links to your kickstarter page the better, most especially from third parties.