We always try to provide both sides here on the blog. In the current issue of Publisher’s Weekly, there is another article about the coming release of Pyromarketing (you can get the back story here). I wanted to share with you the objections Rick Warren had for the book:

My request to Harper-Collins was simply that Greg’s forthcoming book not use The Purpose Driven Life as example of pyromarketing, since that would be inaccurate. The effectiveness of 40 Days of Purpose spread from one pastor to another through word-of-mouth endorsement, not through anyone’s marketing plan. That doesn’t mean pyromarketing doesn’t work. It just means that it didn’t create the PDL worldwide phenomena.

Warren said he wants all recognition for the PDL sensation to go to God. “My only concern was that no one, neither Zondervan nor myself, claim credit for the astounding success of The Purpose Driven Life book. The worldwide spread of the purpose driven message had nothing to do with marketing or merchandising. Instead it was the result of God’s supernatural and sovereign plan, which no one anticipated.”

[‘Pyro’ Goes Ahead; Warren Weighs In, Juli Cragg Hilliard, Publisher's Weekly, August 29, 2005]