Master of the Anecdote: Cornelius spins uncredible funny true stories every week. Fascinating, Intelligent and Sentimental.

Hi, I'm Cornelius. Each week, whatever is going on, I sit in front of a microphone for an hour or so and tell a true story. Most of the stories are my own but I weave in amazing stories and anecdotes I have be told my other people over the years. My goal has always been to create a warm podcast hug, me talking direct to my listeners and sharing some great anecdotes.

Since I started we have gathered a loyal listener base from around the world and usually hold positions in the iTunes Podcast charts in the UK, USA, Canada & Ireland. The people who LOVE the show, the mega fans all tend to be deep thinkers. Curious souls who question 'why?' and whatever their chosen interests they tend to have a life long mission of learning more. The irony, of course, is that my Podcast is not challenging. It is easy listening, I make a podcast that takes you away from your busy life, your stress and puts you in a calm friendly bubble where we can go on a journey of discovery.
 

I travel a lot for my work and audio entertainment has been a constant companion over the years. I love BBC Radio 4, the comedy, drama, documentaries and informative programming. In recent years I have caught the podcast bug and fully immersed myself in that world.
A year or two ago I started making audio recordings of every day life with my family on a dictaphone. Conversations round the dinner table, chats with my wife & kids, soundscapes from birthdays & gatherings. These are for my own personal use as part of an audio diary to keep me company when I'm old and lonely. The podcast grew out out of that, I was listening one day to the Blind Boy podcast and he talked about how he was introduced to Podcasting and decided to give it a go and it knocked me off my feet. I knew at that moment I wanted to be a Podcaster. I started to think about what I would talk about if I had an audience and all the stories and anecdotes that I tell with my friends & the people I meet starting flooding to me and over a few weeks I started a spreadsheet noting each story as it came to me. There were hundreds! I knew at that point that I needed to record some and the Uncredible Adventures Podcast was born. It took me a month to research Podcasting, equipment, technical, etc and I recorded 3 initial episodes over a two week period. Then I sat on them for a couple of months, too scared to publish them, doubting myself, nearly talked myself out of the whole thing. Eventually I did find the courage and I launched the podcast with a very small splash. I had no pre-existing audience, I'm not famous and I made a personal choice not to promote the podcast to my family & friends. Since then I have recorded an episode every week and now three months in things have really started to accelerate as I find and connect with the people that really appreciate the show.
 

It is very difficult. The only way any of this works is because I love the process so much. I work a full on full time job and have a family so time is very limited. I release an episode every week on a Saturday Morning (so far without fail). Each 45 minute takes about 3 hours in total to produce which feels very very quick. I think and plan episodes while I am driving or traveling and record from a list of bullet points - the content is honest and authentic which helps the process because I just talk from the heart. I do one pass of editing to remove any major mistakes but leave the whole thing pretty raw. Some of the early episodes are a bit messy and choppy but luckily the content is compelling enough that my listeners largely see past the mistakes and still enjoy the show. The show feels live because it effectively is recorded live and that really helps.

I fund the podcast myself as a hobby and leisure activity.
Approx monthly
£15 to host the podcast
£15 a month for the website
£20 a month for the editing software
I spent £300-£400 upfront on a second hand Zoom H6 and a second hand Samson Q2U, some nice headphones and use my old worn busted laptop.
I've spent a small amount since then on sound isolation materials, pop filter & microphone shield.
 

I do this purely for pleasure. No sponsorship, no ads, no subscriptions. Maybe one day that will change but for now the process is it's own reward. I really enjoy recording and take immense joy from the feedback from fans who enjoy my work.
 

I start to plan the weeks episode on a Monday night by choosing one story from the spreadsheet that I want to tell. I'll spend the next 24 hours thinkign of the story and noting any other stories that pop into my head.

For instance I have a story I want to tell about the time my wife drove our car into a field and got stuck in the mud and called me to save her and took my car and left me there with a car truly stuck in the mud. I had to find a farmer who was really angry and aggressive but eventually agreed to pull me out with his tractor then refused to unhook the car until I had made a "contribution" (over a £100!).

Thinking about that story will trigger other memories for me - other car trouble tales, or encounters with farmers or the time I dropped my wedding ring and lost it in a ruined mud at a festival.

I put these stories as bullet points on a sheet
- Car trapped in mud
- Ring lost in mud at IOW fest.
- Camping during a storm

I'll add to the list as and when for a day or two, then cut the list down to only the best stories and work out an order that gives some kind of narrative flow.

Most weeks I stay a night away from home in a hotel for my day job and I often record from there.

I record the main section of the episode from my bullet straight into the recorder using the pause button whenever I need to stop and think.
Straight after recording I record the intro.

Then I put the whole thing into the computer and listen through once, editing out big mistakes, and major problems but I don't have time to much more than that.
 

The only place I have every promoted is on Twitter. I followed a load of other indie podcasts and that got me a small amount of followers that listened to the first episode. A couple have been kind enough to retweet or tweet about the show which has given me a few more listeners but the real magic is from the fans. I have a few superfans who consistently support me and talk about the show online and offline. 90% of new listeners come from this wonder handful of people and every week or so I get another superfan. It's slow going, I started from such a small base and no previous following but slowly we grow, building patiently like a snowball.
 

1)Most important is just go for it.

I spent months hesitating because I didn't think I could handle bad feedback or abuse. The reality is (sadly) no-one is going to listen to your early episodes. Certainly no-one is going to invest in listening to the whole thing if they don't like it so you will never receive negative feedback.

2) Second thing is make the podcast that you know how to make, the one you want to listen to, the one that is authentic to you. There is a lot of advise to find a niche or a unique angle - "A music podcast where we only look at B-sides from 4 member rock bands 1991-1997" I see people struggling then because they are too fixed on the format or the rules to be truly authentic and creative. My podcast has no theme really - it makes it harder to promote but easier to make because I can do whatever feels right. In some early episodes I attempted some character comedy sketches..they didn't really work but its important I had the freedom to try. Give yourself a blank canvas

3) Finally, don't rely on anyone else for content. Originally I was going to call my podcast "tales from the lobby bar" and I was going to be recounting conversations I had with people I meet while travelling. I'm glad I dropped that, I would have run out of content very fast and it would not sound authentic.
 

www.uncredibleadventures.com
https://twitter.com/uncrediblepod