How do I interview strippers without them thinking I'm hitting on them?

Question

I have a great idea for a book, and to write it I'd need to interview a number of strippers. I'd rather not do it in the strip club itself. I have not published anything before, or even written that extensively, so I don't have any previous work to validate my claim that I only want to interview them. How do I introduce myself and convey my desire to meet a number of them 1-on-1 at a cafe or something for the purposes of an interview for a book without seeming like I am only using this "I'm writing a book" thing to try to go on a date or sleep with them? I wouldn't even mind doing the interviews in the strip club if I could do them in the back, away from the stage and whatnot.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Answer 1

You might contact the manger of a club and see if they would be willing to ask the strippers to do interviews. I would go armed with an outline of the book and a list of questions you want to ask the strippers. This approach would be less threatening to the strippers.  You may have to call or visit several clubs before you get any results.

You might even have some cheap business cards made up billing yourself as a freelance writer.

Hope this helps!

Good luck!

Al

Answer 2

Try writing a proposal for your book and a query letter and sending it to some agents who deal in this genre (nonfiction). Usually, you must write the book first, then get it sold later, but if you can prove that:

1. Your idea has merit,

2. You can write well, and

3. You can meet deadlines,

it's possible you can sell your book to a publisher, or at least get agent representation.

If you're really serious, at that point you have documentation to prove that you are not just pretending to write a book. You may have to do the interviews over the phone, or perhaps via text or emails, at least at first, until you gain your subjects' trust.

Answer 3

NP,

You would probably save yourself a lot of work by buying a Writer's Market for the current year and write a 'book proposal' to a literary agent found in there who represents that type of work. You can find book proposal letters on the web and I think in a site that I check very often called Preditors and Editors. (By the way, they misspell the word Predators (correct spelling) intentionally).

Many agents allow potential clients to send query letters and book proposals in email form. Literary agents know what is selling and what is not selling. It's a lot of work to write that kind of material and then have nowhere to send it. Been there . . . done that.

By the way, GeeCarl has the right idea as well. Nicely done GC...

Good luck!

PJ M