Why Does This Episode Matter?
Why Does This Episode Matter?
The real thesis behind ZebraLearn is that a book is not the end of a learning journey. It is a milestone within one.
And the platform's job is to be present for the entire journey — from discovery to purchase, from reading to application, from one book to the next. That is what makes it a platform, not a publisher.
In a world where attention is fragmented and learning is increasingly shallow, ZebraLearn is making a quiet but powerful bet: that depth still has a market. That people who are serious about growing — founders, marketers, operators — will always want something more structured than a reel and more actionable than a podcast clip.
The real thesis behind ZebraLearn is that a book is not the end of a learning journey. It is a milestone within one.
And the platform's job is to be present for the entire journey — from discovery to purchase, from reading to application, from one book to the next. That is what makes it a platform, not a publisher.
In a world where attention is fragmented and learning is increasingly shallow, ZebraLearn is making a quiet but powerful bet: that depth still has a market. That people who are serious about growing — founders, marketers, operators — will always want something more structured than a reel and more actionable than a podcast clip.
Anurag Sundarka
Co-Founder @ZebraLearn
How ZebraLearn Is Building India's First D2C Publishing Platform?
How ZebraLearn Is Building India's First D2C Publishing Platform?
There's a question that comes up every few years, usually whenever a new technology arrives — are people still reading books?
It came up when the internet arrived. Again when YouTube exploded. Again when reels took over. And now, with AI able to summarise anything in thirty seconds, the question feels more urgent than ever.
In Episode 15 of DilSe Omni Talks, Saurabh sits down with Anurag, founder of ZebraLearn, the Shark Tank-featured D2C publishing brand that is quietly reimagining how business books are written, sold, and consumed in India. What follows is one of the most honest and thoughtful conversations we've had about learning, publishing, omnichannel strategy, and what it really means to build a brand around books in 2026.
There's a question that comes up every few years, usually whenever a new technology arrives — are people still reading books?
It came up when the internet arrived. Again when YouTube exploded. Again when reels took over. And now, with AI able to summarise anything in thirty seconds, the question feels more urgent than ever.
In Episode 15 of DilSe Omni Talks, Saurabh sits down with Anurag, founder of ZebraLearn, the Shark Tank-featured D2C publishing brand that is quietly reimagining how business books are written, sold, and consumed in India. What follows is one of the most honest and thoughtful conversations we've had about learning, publishing, omnichannel strategy, and what it really means to build a brand around books in 2026.
Are People Still Reading Books?
Despite podcasts, reels, AI tools, and an internet full of free content, 94% of global book sales are still physical copies. In every informal survey Anurag runs, when he asks people what the last thing they read was, most people still raise their hands for a physical book.
Books have survived every wave of digital disruption. And Anurag's argument is simple: AI and short-form content are great for quick answers. But books are where deep, structured, foundational learning happens. They are not competing with reels. They are doing something entirely different.
Are People Still Reading Books?
Despite podcasts, reels, AI tools, and an internet full of free content, 94% of global book sales are still physical copies. In every informal survey Anurag runs, when he asks people what the last thing they read was, most people still raise their hands for a physical book.
Books have survived every wave of digital disruption. And Anurag's argument is simple: AI and short-form content are great for quick answers. But books are where deep, structured, foundational learning happens. They are not competing with reels. They are doing something entirely different.
Are people still reading books?
Despite podcasts, reels, AI tools, and an internet full of free content, 94% of global book sales are still physical copies. In every informal survey Anurag runs, when he asks people what the last thing they read was, most people still raise their hands for a physical book.
Books have survived every wave of digital disruption. And Anurag's argument is simple: AI and short-form content are great for quick answers. But books are where deep, structured, foundational learning happens. They are not competing with reels. They are doing something entirely different.
The Gap ZebraLearn Was Built to Fill
The current publishing ecosystem, Anurag explains, is fundamentally broken.
Books are written in one place, digitised separately, sold through different channels, and consumed in completely fragmented ways. There is no unified experience. The reader buys a book, reads it, and then disappears. The publisher has no idea what happened next. There is no follow-up, no community, no journey, just a transaction.
ZebraLearn was built to fix this. Not just as a publisher, but as a two-sided D2C platform, holding relationships with authors on one side and readers on the other. Most traditional publishers only own one side of that relationship. ZebraLearn owns both.
Over 90% of their sales come through their own platform and marketplaces like Amazon. When a customer buys a physical book, they also get a free digital copy, which lets ZebraLearn track reading behaviour, understand engagement, and build a longer relationship with the reader beyond the book itself.
The Gap ZebraLearn Was Built to Fill
The current publishing ecosystem, Anurag explains, is fundamentally broken.
Books are written in one place, digitised separately, sold through different channels, and consumed in completely fragmented ways. There is no unified experience. The reader buys a book, reads it, and then disappears. The publisher has no idea what happened next. There is no follow-up, no community, no journey, just a transaction.
ZebraLearn was built to fix this. Not just as a publisher, but as a two-sided D2C platform, holding relationships with authors on one side and readers on the other. Most traditional publishers only own one side of that relationship. ZebraLearn owns both.
Over 90% of their sales come through their own platform and marketplaces like Amazon. When a customer buys a physical book, they also get a free digital copy, which lets ZebraLearn track reading behaviour, understand engagement, and build a longer relationship with the reader beyond the book itself.
The Omnichannel Playbook for Publishing
What makes ZebraLearn genuinely interesting as a business is how they think about omnichannel, not just as a retail strategy, but as a learning strategy.
Their platform now includes a tool called ZAI, a simplified AI search tool that lets readers ask questions directly from the book's content. Every book comes with free audio summaries and video chapter breakdowns. Authors are active on social media, creating ongoing touchpoints that keep readers connected long after the book is delivered.
As Saurabh and Anurag explains, the shift in publishing has been from shelf space to feed space. Traditional bookstores competed for physical shelf real estate. Today, the competition is for visibility in digital feeds: Instagram, YouTube, Amazon search, and author networks. The platform invests across all of these simultaneously.
The Omnichannel Playbook for Publishing
What makes ZebraLearn genuinely interesting as a business is how they think about omnichannel, not just as a retail strategy, but as a learning strategy.
Their platform now includes a tool called ZAI, a simplified AI search tool that lets readers ask questions directly from the book's content. Every book comes with free audio summaries and video chapter breakdowns. Authors are active on social media, creating ongoing touchpoints that keep readers connected long after the book is delivered.
As Saurabh and Anurag explains, the shift in publishing has been from shelf space to feed space. Traditional bookstores competed for physical shelf real estate. Today, the competition is for visibility in digital feeds: Instagram, YouTube, Amazon search, and author networks. The platform invests across all of these simultaneously.
The Omnichannel Playbook for Publishing
What makes ZebraLearn genuinely interesting as a business is how they think about omnichannel, not just as a retail strategy, but as a learning strategy.
Their platform now includes a tool called ZAI, a simplified AI search tool that lets readers ask questions directly from the book's content. Every book comes with free audio summaries and video chapter breakdowns. Authors are active on social media, creating ongoing touchpoints that keep readers connected long after the book is delivered.
As Saurabh and Anurag explains, the shift in publishing has been from shelf space to feed space. Traditional bookstores competed for physical shelf real estate. Today, the competition is for visibility in digital feeds: Instagram, YouTube, Amazon search, and author networks. The platform invests across all of these simultaneously.
The Shark Tank Moment
The Shark Tank Moment
ZebraLearn's appearance on Shark Tank India was a milestone that Anurag reflects on with measured honesty.
It opened doors. It built trust. It gave the brand a credibility signal that accelerated distribution conversations. But Anurag is clear that the business was not built on the Shark Tank moment. It was built on delivering real value to readers and authors, consistently, over time.
What the Shark Tank appearance did was compress the trust-building timeline. For a brand selling books — a category where credibility is everything — that kind of visibility matters enormously.
ZebraLearn's appearance on Shark Tank India was a milestone that Anurag reflects on with measured honesty.
It opened doors. It built trust. It gave the brand a credibility signal that accelerated distribution conversations. But Anurag is clear that the business was not built on the Shark Tank moment. It was built on delivering real value to readers and authors, consistently, over time.
What the Shark Tank appearance did was compress the trust-building timeline. For a brand selling books — a category where credibility is everything — that kind of visibility matters enormously.
How a ZebraLearn Book Actually Gets Made
How a ZebraLearn Book Actually Gets Made
One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation is the peek behind the curtain at how ZebraLearn actually builds a book.
It starts with topic selection, driven by market demand, search trends, and real pain points. The author must have at least 12 years of active, practitioner-level experience in the field. Theorists don't make the cut.
Once the author is selected, an index is built first, before a single chapter is written. This ensures the book has structure, focus, and a clear problem it is solving. Authors can submit manuscripts, voice notes, video recordings, or sit for in-person sessions. AI tools help with editing, formatting, and production.
The entire process takes three to six months from brief to publication.
And the books that perform best, Anurag says, are the ones that function as painkillers — solving a specific, urgent problem — rather than vitamins, which are nice to have but easy to put off.
ZebraLearn's current portfolio spans marketing, Martech, brandology, emotional messaging, B2B strategy, finance, HR, AI, digital transformation, and even school textbooks for grades 6 to 9. The goal, long term, is to blur the line between books and edtech entirely.
One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation is the peek behind the curtain at how ZebraLearn actually builds a book.
It starts with topic selection, driven by market demand, search trends, and real pain points. The author must have at least 12 years of active, practitioner-level experience in the field. Theorists don't make the cut.
Once the author is selected, an index is built first, before a single chapter is written. This ensures the book has structure, focus, and a clear problem it is solving. Authors can submit manuscripts, voice notes, video recordings, or sit for in-person sessions. AI tools help with editing, formatting, and production.
The entire process takes three to six months from brief to publication.
And the books that perform best, Anurag says, are the ones that function as painkillers — solving a specific, urgent problem — rather than vitamins, which are nice to have but easy to put off.
ZebraLearn's current portfolio spans marketing, Martech, brandology, emotional messaging, B2B strategy, finance, HR, AI, digital transformation, and even school textbooks for grades 6 to 9. The goal, long term, is to blur the line between books and edtech entirely.
One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation is the peek behind the curtain at how ZebraLearn actually builds a book.
It starts with topic selection, driven by market demand, search trends, and real pain points. The author must have at least 12 years of active, practitioner-level experience in the field. Theorists don't make the cut.
Once the author is selected, an index is built first, before a single chapter is written. This ensures the book has structure, focus, and a clear problem it is solving. Authors can submit manuscripts, voice notes, video recordings, or sit for in-person sessions. AI tools help with editing, formatting, and production.
The entire process takes three to six months from brief to publication.
And the books that perform best, Anurag says, are the ones that function as painkillers — solving a specific, urgent problem — rather than vitamins, which are nice to have but easy to put off.
ZebraLearn's current portfolio spans marketing, Martech, brandology, emotional messaging, B2B strategy, finance, HR, AI, digital transformation, and even school textbooks for grades 6 to 9. The goal, long term, is to blur the line between books and edtech entirely.
The biggest takeaway from this episode?
The biggest takeaway from this episode?
A book is not the destination — it's a milestone in a longer learning journey.
A book is not the destination — it's a milestone in a longer learning journey.
Own both sides of the relationship — the author and the reader — or you don't own the business.
Own both sides of the relationship — the author and the reader — or you don't own the business.
Shelf space was the old game. Feed space is where books are discovered now.
Shelf space was the old game. Feed space is where books are discovered now.
https://yt.openinapp.co/storetech_suren_dilseomni
This is just the beginning. If you’re ready to understand how AI and Omnichannel thinking work together, and hear real stories from people building the future
This is just the beginning. If you’re ready to understand how AI and Omnichannel thinking work together, and hear real stories from people building the future
Talks with Saurabh Agrawal
Talks with Saurabh Agrawal
Talks with Saurabh Agrawal
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