Lesson Four: Tips, Tricks & Publications
Okay so NOW it’s time for you to actually do the interview! The two most important things to do during the interview are to: listen and be flexible.
1. Listen
This seems very obvious, but you need to LISTEN to your interviewee. Don’t be fixated on the questions you have prepared or worried that your recorder isn’t working. Pay attention, respond appropriately and be prepared to double check something with them if it doesn’t sound correct.
If you’re interviewing an expert, you may need to ask them to repeat themselves in plain English. In this instance, it’s important to listen to the language being used so you don’t get your transcript and realise all your quotes are a bunch of jargon that won’t mean anything to the average reader. If you don’t understand something an interviewee says always ask them to elaborate or explain further.
It’s also important to listen because their answers could change the direction of your article and you’ll need to make up relevant questions on the spot.
2. Be Flexible
That brings us to point, which is to be flexible. Perhaps you’ve prepared 10 questions but on the second question the interviewee reveals something either really, interesting and unexpected or something that makes your other questions redundant. In both cases you’ll need to be able to make more questions up on the spot and the best way to do this is to listen to their answers.
If it’s just that they’ve revealed something interesting, ask some more leading questions but don’t let it derail your entire interview. Remember to return to your prepared questions and ask any that are still relevant. It’s always better to get too much information from an interview rather than not enough.
3. Building Rapport
Interviewing someone for the first time can be nerve-wracking so you’ll probably be a bit nervous. My favourite technique for overcoming this is to pretend my interviewees are clients, within reason, obviously. Think about how you build rapport; be casual, ask them questions about things they enjoy or their hobbies to help them feel comfortable and tell them something about yourself. In terms of body language, mirror their mannerisms and don’t have closed body language such as crossed arms.
Sex Worker Friendly Publications
Deciding on who to pitch to can be difficult. It is recommended to pitch to publications you know well and read. However, here is a brief list of publications that generally publish sex worker writers. It is important to note, however, that changes in editors may have an impact on how sex worker friendly these publications are. You should always consider this before outing yourself to an editor you don’t already know.
1. Archer - pitch@archermagazine.com.au
2. SBS Pride - voices@sbs.com.au
3. Overland - https://overland.org.au/submit/nonfiction-submissions/
4. Mous magazine – bonnie@mousmagazine.com
5. TØS Journal – www.tosjournal.com/submissions
6. The Lifted Brow - https://theliftedbrow.submittable.com/submit
7. Tits and Sass - http://titsandsass.com/contribute/
WRITING AS A SEX WORKER: TO OUT OR NOT TO OUT?
The great thing about writing is you don’t need to out yourself in order to write about sex worker issues. As a sex worker writer you have a few options when writing feature articles.
1. Not outing yourself
The first option is to keep your sex worker status private from your editor and the public. The benefit of this is you maintain your privacy, safety and don’t get pigeonholed into only writing about sex work. You will also still have access to other workers in your community who may be willing to be interviewed for articles. The one downside to this option is that some editors will not publish articles about sex worker issues unless it is written by a sex worker, which means you maybe not be able to get certain articles published if you do not disclose your sex worker status.
2. Outing yourself to specific editors
In some instances you might feel comfortable disclosing your sex worker status to a publication’s editor when you pitch an article, but not when you publish the article. The benefit of this is that the editor knows you are in a position of authority to write sex worker related articles. This does require a level of risk and trust in the editor that they will not out you in other settings. This is important to consider and weigh up your own personal risks. We never recommend outing yourself.
3. Pitching and writing under a pseudonym
If you are not willing to be out to an editor but still want the authority of being a sex worker, you can create an email under a writing pseudonym and pitch work to editors via that email. That way your legal identity is protected and your work can be published under a pseudonym.
Whichever option you chose, please weigh up the individual risks and advantages and understand that regardless of what you chose it is likely someone, somewhere will disagree with something in your article.
That completes our Interviewing Techniques workshop. If you haven’t already, to book your 30 minute skype consultation please contact Ruby Summers at ruby@tosjournal.com using the email you used to sign up to this course.