Welcome to Gone Dogs. We’re glad you’re here.

We are looking for a Corporate Sponsor

Memories of our dogs become stories that live forever.

Originally conceived after the passing of a family dog in 2014, Gone Dogs is a crowd-sourced book of tributes to dogs who are no longer with us—written by people from all over the world who loved them. Our hardcover book hit the market in the fall of 2019 and we sold out of 1,000 copies (with minimal advertising) by spring 2020. In December 2020, we introduced a softcover version of our book, ordered 500 copies, and sold out of those in two weeks.

As a small, independent publisher, our resources are limited. But what we’ve built—and what we’ve tapped into—is a remarkable opportunity to bring joy to people everywhere. All through the love of dogs.

“To heal we must remember.”

– President Joe Biden

Building our brand over the years, we’ve learned a lot about the people who love dogs. Most notably: people really, really love dogs. But another important thing we learned is that stories about dogs bring joy. Deep joy that invites readers to remember their own “gone dogs” in a new light.

In Gone Dogs we’ve set the wheels in motion for a concept that encourages people to share the lives of their dogs after their final goodbye. Not only through a series of beautiful books, but through community. And from our growing fan base on Facebook and Instagram, to our book’s 5-star rating on Amazon, the dog community loves our idea.

This community is what we feel a Corporate Sponsor will benefit most from.

We are currently looking to secure a sponsor to help us take the Gone Dogs concept to the next level. And what we offer goes way beyond books.

Our Goals

Before we get to how a Sponsor can benefit from partnering with us, we wanted to introduce some of the goals for our concept.

We currently have one amazing book in three formats and price points. The book itself has a perfect 5-star customer rating. But we can do more—a lot more—with the backing of a Corporate Sponsor.

A few of the projects we are ready to roll out include:

Gone Dogs – Volume 2

We designed and produced a stunning coffee table book of 52 amazing stories for Volume 1. Despite limited resources for reach and advertising, we received 150 story submissions from around the globe. Our goal for Volume 2 is to quadruple this number. Our website is ready and waiting to accept submissions—but we’d love to have a Corporate Sponsor to put at the fore of our appeals. Having the resources necessary to generate more submissions will ensure that Volume 2 is even more amazing than Volume 1.

Facebook Group

Based on the success of our Facebook Page, we feel strongly that the market would benefit from a Facebook Group for people grieving the loss of their dogs.

E-books

Now that we’ve published both hardcover and softcover books, we‘ve learned that people want this content any way they can get it. We expect to launch the e-book version of Gone Dogs in early 2021.

Audiobooks

We have studios in place ready to help us create the audio version of our books—which are sure to be best sellers. A Corporate Sponsor will help ensure that the final product is thoughtful, compelling, and professional.

Children’s Books

As a parent who has had to endure the loss of family dogs, I know firsthand that children have a hard time understanding a dog’s short lifespan. We believe that a series of illustrated children’s books based on individual stories from our primary books will help children to understand the beauty of a dog’s life in a way that gives them a new appreciation for these remarkable companions—and in a tender and gentle way.

Expand the Market

We currently only fulfill within the United States because it’s just too expensive to ship outside of our borders. But the fact is, several of our stories are from people in other countries, and the markets in these places are just as dog-friendly as in the US (in some places even more so). Solving these logistical issues is paramount to the growth of our brand and is something we can solve with Corporate Sponsorship.

Podcast

A podcast is something we’d been considering for a couple of years mostly as the result of fans asking for one. Now, with a studio and production team in place, we’re ready. From appearances by our book’s authors to special guests from across the dog universe, there is a world of content out there to wrap a show around. We’re confident that the Gone Dogs podcast will gain a strong following in short order.

Community

It’s critical to note that the one thing all of these projects have in common is the idea of community. And of course community engagement. And in an age when engagement is critical for brands, content that dares to go beyond the norm will stand out. Especially concerning a beautiful topic like ours.

The dog community is ready for our concept on a large scale.

Sponsorship

In terms of the Corporate Sponsorship, we are looking to secure funding to achieve the goals above, along with printing, storage, fulfillment, and advertising. In exchange, would like to discuss any number of ways for your brand to become a hero in this endeavor. Three of the most prominent ways include:

Exclusivity

Wherever Gone Dogs appears, so too does your brand. And only your brand.

Prime brand placement

On book covers, on our website, on our podcast, and in our social media streams—when someone keeps our book on their coffee table, or engages with us anywhere, your brand is right there too.

Brand Loyalty

This sponsorship will demonstrate that your brand is in touch with your audience, and that you understand that a significant part of loving a dog includes memories of them after they’ve gone.

And More…

Clearly, there are plenty of other ways we can align our partnership—and it’s our hope that you’ll offer some amazing ideas. The goal of this page is to simply start a dialogue.

NOTE: We understand that numbers are important. Especially when justifying moving money from one project to another. And while our numbers are strong, our sample size is too small to tout here. That said, our audience has expanded exponentially the past six months, our database grows daily, we can’t keep books in stock because they’re selling out, and engagement on social is at an all-time high. Still, we know that numbers are important–which is why we are happy to share them with you directly.

Who We Are

My name is Jim Mitchem and I’m a copywriter in Charlotte. When I had the idea for the book, one of the first people I spoke with was my friend Laurie Smithwick, a designer also here in Charlotte. Not only was I bouncing the idea off of Laurie, but I also knew that she would be the perfect artist to design a book like this. And boy did she. As soon as you see the book, you know how special it is. (It’s the kind of thing people cherish.) With our roots in advertising, we began to probe our networks to see what they thought of the idea. As a result, once we knew we were on to something, many of our friends and colleagues stepped up to help us build it. That’s how we were able to secure a foreword by advertising legend Lee Clow—who was a friend of Steve Jobs and the force behind some of the most memorable Apple advertising–including the famous “1984” Super Bowl commercial. Lee is a huge dog guy, and was also the genius behind Pedigree’s “Dogs Rule” campaign.

Between Laurie and me, and our team of judges and editors (which can certainly be expanded to include people from your company), we have the internal resources necessary to continue building our brand, facilitating a call for entries, judging, editing submissions, and designing subsequent volumes. But I am certain that there are ways we can utilize your resources to help engage new fans, expand reach for story submissions, develop and curate unique content, and more.

We are excited about the prospect of working with you to make Gone Dogs a household name, while elevating your brand in the hearts and minds of dog-lovers everywhere.

Jim Mitchem and Laurie Smithwick - Gone Dogs

We hope you have a chance to poke around the site and visit us on social media.

Please reach out to me directly to start a dialogue at either 704-622-5653 or jim@gonedogs.com.

Thank you, Jim Mitchem