RAINBOW RIDGE BOOKS, LLC Information

Rainbow Ridge Books, LLC specializes in books with a spiritual (as distinguished from religious) content, metaphysical themes, and self-help with a metaphysical twist. Robert S. Friedman, the founder of Rainbow Ridge, grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia, attended Woodrow Wilson High School and the University of Virginia, where he earned a B.A. in English. He has an M.F.A. in Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and two years graduate study at the University College of Swansea of the University of Wales. He founded The Donning Company/ Publishers, in 1974, and was president and publisher until 1989. The company published a variety of books, including over 400 pictorial histories of counties, cities, and states. He started the first illustrated trade paperback line of science fiction and fantasy in 1978 (Starblaze Editions) with ten-time Hugo award winner, Kelly Freas. He published and marketed the first four-color graphic novel, the bestselling Elfquest series, and pioneered the first chain store distribution of the genre, followed by several other graphic novel publications which led to the thriving genre on the shelves today. And he initiated a series of metaphysical titles, many of which are still in print. He and Frank DeMarco founded Hampton Roads Publishing Company in 1989, and the company's book publishing program focused on cutting-edge books with a self-help or non-traditional spiritual orientation, publishing over 800 books in twenty years. Among early bestsellers were books by author Mary Summer Rain. Later successes included the trilogy of Conversations with God books by Neale Donald Walsch, all of which became New YorkTimes bestselling books. Book 1 was on the list for 132 weeks. And he acquired bestselling books such as Lynn Grabhorn's Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting, which has sold over 600,000 copies; Barbel Mohr's The Cosmic Ordering Service series; Richard Bach's Messiah's Handbook and Hypnotizing Maria; George Beahm's Muggles and Magic; and many others. He is the ...