By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox
Last week, Irish journalists and publishers Blathnaid Healy and Eoin Purcell announced the launch of Full Set, their independent publishing house focusing on nonfiction books.
Blathnaid Healy is an award-winning news editor and media executive having worked for BBC News, CNN and Mashable. Eoin Purcell worked in independent publishing at New Island Books, Mercier Press, and Nonsuch, before spending the last 10 years at Amazon Publishing leading its European originals book business.
Combining their experience in journalism and book publishing, the duo plan to launch their first list in 2026. Publishing Perspectives sat down with Purcell to learn more about their mission.
Publishing Perspectives: Why did you and Blathnaid start Full Set?
EP: Having both worked in large publishing and journalism organizations and experienced and led programs of transformation, we think there is an opportunity in the crossover between our worlds, driven by changes in both industries.
We’re very conscious of the shifts that have happened in terms of audience behavior and the newer ways of consuming media. And despite this and other earlier waves of technological transformation, books are robust in terms of business model, they still have cultural importance and people continue to connect with them on different levels – lending them a cachet and strength few media forms still have.
In a time of near constant change, we think being small and agile is a big advantage – and some of the changes of the last decade make it easier to be small and still achieve scale.
In thinking about what a venture would look like we kept coming back to what drives us: stories, storytellers and storytelling and how we can connect storytellers with audiences to extend the reach of their work and reward readers.
How has your experience in media, at a small publishing house, and at Amazon Publishing influenced the creation and mission of Full Set?
We’ve taken book publishing’s business model, the metabolism of a newsroom, the obsession we both have with audiences and considered how technology and scale can help a book publisher thrive in this age of change. Our experiences have given us a very real understanding of the market dynamics of the media business and what is valuable to audiences.
We’ve both worked in very small businesses with limited resources where you have to be comfortable being able to do many things (from commissioning to coding) and using your time in the best way possible (you can never spend enough time on metadata).
Our mission is to back great stories, storytelling and storytellers and these insights and experiences keep us grounded and focused on delivering that.
What are your goals for your list and what writers/books/work are you looking for?
We’ll publish a small list in 2026 and scale sensibly from there. We’re commissioning in two categories right now, Current Affairs and Business. In both, we’re interested in new and established voices.
We have some guiding editorial themes for 2026 and 2027. In Current Affairs we’re interested in: loneliness, imperialism, the rollback of human rights, the ongoing shift towards individualism, generational obsession, rural/urban dependency, and explorations of ways forward. In Business our themes are: values, formulas and risk.
We’re keen to experiment with some shorter formats across the list and innovations/experiments in book products.
Our goals are to deliver on our audience promise of rewarding reads, create impact for our authors and to build a sustainable business.
How wide is your scope – will you be focusing mostly on publishing in the domestic market or expanding to include international writers to publish and readers by selling exports and foreign rights?
Our core market will be English language globally in all formats. We’re still considering the right approach to translation, there’s been considerable change in the area in very recent times, and it makes sense as a new entrant to be flexible in how we move forward there.