Once mocked for choosing writing, Shubham Bharti’s audio series on Pocket FM has millions of listeners and is building a career through storytelling

For Shubham Bharti, writing was never part of the plan. Raised in a family that believed in the security of a traditional career, he grew up with familiar expectations: complete his education, find a stable job, and ideally, secure a government position. Hailing from Hajipur in Bihar’s Vaishali district and later living in Delhi, Shubham had a different vision for himself. He wanted to build a career in management and, eventually, start his own business.

That changed during the pandemic, when listening to audio series on Pocket FM became a regular habit. What began as casual listening soon turned into curiosity, and eventually, into an experiment with writing. With no formal training or literary background, Shubham started writing simply because he wanted to try. What began without a plan gradually became a serious pursuit.

Like many first-time creators, the journey came with uncertainty. Not every story worked, and there were moments when he questioned whether writing was the right path at all. But his audio series, Divya Naag Garuda Yodha on Pocket FM, changed that, giving him the confidence to continue and take writing more seriously.

Today, at 28, Shubham is working on multiple audio series on Pocket FM and building a steady career through digital storytelling. In the beginning, writing was often seen as an impractical choice by people around him, with friends and even family not taking it seriously. But as his work began to grow, the same people who once doubted him started seeing writing as a legitimate profession, and his journey in a very different light.

Shubham Bharti shares, “I had no inspiration before this. I used to listen to stories on Pocket FM. So, I started writing from there. It was never my goal. Suddenly, I got into it. I never had any goal. My goal was to become a manager and to move forward. I wanted to start my own business. When I started writing, I had no inspiration or method, and I didn’t even know how to write. I just wrote it as I had a story in mind. “No one writes in my house. My father said, ‘Do whatever you want to do. See if you are getting a job or not.’ In the beginning, people around me and friends used to call me a writer, in a way of making fun of me. But now everything is fine. They ask me how I write, they ask me to teach them to write or guide them.”

He adds, “There were moments when I felt like maybe this journey would end early, as I was new to it. But after I wrote Divya Naag Garuda Yodha, things changed. That gave me the confidence to keep going. Writing teaches you patience, and it teaches you not to lose courage. If you stop believing too early, you won’t be able to move forward.”

Shubham’s journey reflects a larger shift in India’s creator economy, where digital platforms are opening up career possibilities far beyond conventional expectations. From a young man once expected to follow a traditional path to a self-made storyteller building a future through his words, his story is a reminder that sometimes the most unexpected turns can lead to the most fulfilling destinations.