Rachel Kramer Bussel chats with Jason Pinter over at Warner 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?

Pinter: With non-fiction, the concept is what sucks me in first, and then the execution of that concept is what seals the deal. As opposed to fiction, I can generally tell from a one-line pitch whether I'll be interested in a non-fiction query. We're often pitched business authors with impressive credentials, but whose notion of a fresh concept is Who Moved My Cheez-Its. Not every book is going to change the world, but I'd much rather publish a book we can tout as "The first of its kind" than "In the tradition of..." Whether it's a thriller, parody, sports biography, or business parable, say something new, and say it well. If I can legitimately say a proposal makes me look at something in a fresh way, or a novel is just too good to put down, that makes me want to get other people excited too.