Zondervan's runaway best-seller The Purpose-Driven Life (PDL) is getting a facelift to help sustain the remarkable momentum that has seen it make publishing history, selling more than 20 million copies since its fall 2002 release.

Rick Warren's guide to Christian discipleship will be "freshened up" with a new cover of brighter color and new endorsements to "give it a new look," said company President Bruce Ryskamp, who said he anticipated another 2 million to 3 million sales by end-of-year.

Although demand has started to dip, it was "tailing off much slower than most new publications," and the book sold 200,000 copies in January alone, typically a poor month for sales, Ryskamp said.

Along with the new-look book, Zondervan is releasing an abridged audio version to be read by the author. Zondervan has sown $3 million of its PDL profits into a new distribution center that Ryskamp said meant the publisher had been able to fulfill all orders within 48 hours last year.

Ryskamp downplayed anticipation over Warren's follow-up book-for which there is no release date set. "There's no way a company can follow a PDL," he said. "There has never been a book like this in history, so to think that we are going to get two in a row is a bit optimistic.

"We knew two years ago that we had to plan for life after PDL, (though) it will continue to be a strong backlist title for us for years and years."

• Prev
• Next