Rachel Kramer Bussel chats with Chris Schluep, Editor at Ballantine books:

Mediabistro: What are the qualities in a manuscript that immediately grab you and make you keep reading/want to work on a particular book?

Schluep: I guess it's two things: either the voice or the idea behind it. Fictionwise, I'm not too into the gimmicky stuff, so I'd say there has to be a clear, genuine, hopefully slightly funny voice driving the prose. If it's a thriller, I'd like it to lean toward the high concept. If it's nonfiction, it should have a real narrative flow and cause the reader to think on some level. That's probably not very helpful. Generally I'm looking for a certain level of quality and potential sales-whatever that is.

Mediabistro: Do you prefer to work with first-time authors, authors you've worked with before, previously published authors, or is that irrelevant?

Schluep: I get a real thrill from working with first-time authors. It has always been very important to me to be able to build a writer's career, and starting out with the first-time author gives me the most opportunity to do so. But when I like a writer's work, the publishing chronology isn't so important. So I guess you could say it's an irrelevant question.

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