In a new development for Irish publishing, the international firm Simon and Schuster has negotiated a joint venture deal with Town House, which will be announced in Britain in tomorrow's Book- seller. The deal was handled by Ian Chapman, who joined the London office of Simon and Schuster as its new managing director in January, and Treasa Coady, Town House's publisher.

The day after he took up his new post, Chapman was on the phone to Coady, whom he had worked with over a period of several years while at Macmillan: Town House authors Deirdre Purcell and Julie Parsons, are published in Britain by Macmillan.

"I want to stress that it's not a buy-out," Coady says. No money has changed hands. "It's a 50-50 deal. Town House will pay half of all the costs of producing the book, and get 50 per cent of the sales." They will publish under the names Town House/ Simon and Schuster, and the imprints, Town House/Pocket, and Town House/Scribner. "I'll still have editorial autonomy, and the challenge really excites me. The new distribution will be huge," Coady points out.

"It's a big opportunity for me and for Irish authors. I'm hoping that this news will attract other authors to our list, and I'm looking forward to being able to publish more literary fiction." Given the numbers of would-be-novelists this country continues to produce, the chances are the Town House postbag will shortly be bulging at the idea of being copublished with a company of the international reputation of Simon and Schuster.

The first eight titles will appear in spring 2001. Among them will be a new thriller from Peter Cunningham, and a first novel from Dubliner Catherine Barry, entitled, The House that Jack Built. "It's set in Kilbarrack - Roddy Doyle country. Catherine is a great storyteller. That's what I'm interested in - storytelling. You can only have so many plots; it's the way you tell them that matter."

So how does Coady think other Irish publishers will greet her news, and her declared wish to attract new authors to Town House? "I don't know how they'll see it," she says neutrally, which she follows immediately with the comment, "it's clear that this is a great opportunity for Irish writers".

Unlike in Ireland, the figures who head publishing companies in Britain tend to move around quite a bit, often changing jobs after only a couple of years. What will happen if Ian Chapman moves on from Simon and Schuster?

"It's been built into the agreement that rights revert to me after six years," Coady explains. "It's a six-year agreement, and will be reviewed then."

So what does this development for Irish publishing look like from the British perspective? Judith Murray is a literary agent for the London-based agency, Greene & Heaton. "To me, as an agent, the news isn't a surprise," she comments. "The form of the news is new, but not the content. Ian Chapman came from Macmillan, where he already had a lot of connections with Town House, to Simon and Schuster.

"It's more likely that this will be a one-off arrangement than a trend. British publishers are more likely to continue buying authors rather than companies: Poolbeg for instance already has informal arrangements with British publishers. And Poolbeg would be the only other Irish publishing company producing the kinds of books that would have a large market over here - Irish women's popular fiction is very big at the moment."

How is Treasa Coady going to celebrate her news? "I'm going to have a party and invite other Irish publishers. This news is good for Irish publishing too!" Then she pauses and looks a little wary about the responses she may get to her party invitations from her Irish publishing colleagues who have well-documented neurotic reputations about people trying to poach their authors.

"Am I being too naive? she asks uncertainly. "I don't know."