Prefer to listen instead? We add new stories regularly to the podcast Timber—Stories for Podcasters.
The world’s “most boring podcast” brings in three million listens per month and has been Drew Ackerman’s full-time job for the last three-and-a-half years.
Sleep With Me is a podcast that helps people fall asleep. Ackerman recites bumbling bedtime stories to audiences two times a week, inspired by his own troubles with falling asleep and a funny shtick he had with his friends as a young adult. “I would get asked to share bedtime stories," he says. "I would tell them to people when we were hanging out at a park or camping. I was always a goofy rambler."
But it took years before he decided to turn it into a podcast. He was a longtime listener, streaming audio broadcasts long before there were RSS aggregates like iTunes or Spotify.Â
“I would listen directly from RSS feeds […] and I remember being blown away,” he says. This included people experimenting with the medium and uploading audio files that had random conversations and idea sharing. “There were podcasts about everything—people were just talking about their love of particular subjects. It was so different,” says Ackerman.Â
Working as a librarian, he was fueled by creative side-projects. He dedicated time on a weekly basis to write for a YouTube show, but [...]
Timber for Podcasters requires free signup.
These are the best of the best stories on Timber. They’re free, but we’d like to be able to keep in touch in exchange for reading them. We won’t spam you or sell your email. We’re a business, and we pay writers well. Our connection with you is what makes this worth it. Thanks!