Patrick Janson-Smith, the longtime publisher of Transworld, is ditching the company for the Christopher Little Literary Agency:

At Transworld Janson-Smith has worked with authors such as Bill Bryson, Jilly Cooper, Terry Pratchett and Mo Hayder and among other things helped found the Black Swan imprint. By moving into agenting he's following in his father's footsteps - Peter Janson-Smith was the agent for Ian Fleming. Gavin Maxwell and Eric Ambler.

Janson-Smith said that the move to Christopher Little was an ideal opportunity to return to his real passion - working directly with authors rather than dealing with the day to day demands of a large company.

No word on who will succeed, although a major promotion has already occurred within Transworld as Selina Walker became Editorial Director of Bantam Press and the Publisher-at-Large of all mysteries and thrillers.