HOOK: E-zine By, For, and About Men in the Sex Industry

Matt Adams is the author of Hustlers, Escorts, Porn Stars and resides in Las Vegas with his wife. The book may be a strange co-mingling of fact and experience, but it serves as one of the only guides available discussing the industry as a business. HOOK caught up with Matt right after he attended a local AIDS benefits fundraiser.

Matt Adams: This is a very bisexual town and the entertainment community is very supportive of certain causes. One of the things in Golden Rainbow is a show with children affected by HIV. Watching these kids grow up each year has been a really incredible experience. They didn't use to grow up. Working with children can change your life. Well, I don't work with them, but they are in the show every year.

HOOK: How long have you been there? And what business were you in?

MA: I have been here for seven years. I started the book in Vegas when I was still in the industry. (pause) Well, I was on my way to retiring from it. I was in the biz for about 5 years. I started out doing massage, then I got myself in shape and started doing more escort work. And some porn and a couple spreads.

HOOK: How old were you when you started?

MA: I was way old (grins) in my thirties. Now, I am 41, but since my wife is 22, I just say I am a few years older than my wife.

HOOK: So, I take it that you switch hit?

MA: To tell you the truth, I had not been with women for 15 years until I did escort work. The only time I did it was when I got paid to do it. About 10-15% of my work was with couples or women. That occurs more in Las Vegas and the Midwest than on the coasts.

HOOK: Not too many guys can develop a clientele of women. Why do you suppose it is skewed to the Midwest?

MA: Couples are kinkier in the Midwest. They don't have as many swingers clubs or gay bars and they want to keep their hetero status. Some escorts leave the Midwest because they don't want to do the hetero work.

HOOK: What about single women that contacted you? Was there a 'type' or was it across the board?

MA: I only had one single woman contact me. The others were couples. There is some hetero work with bachelorette parties. Typically couples have different fantasies.

HOOK: When you were working with couples, did you see any common situations among the clients...like the guy wanted more than the wife, or so on and so forth?

MA: Most of the guys couldn't perform or wanted to see their wives fucked by a guy. In one case, a wife wanted to see her husband fucked for real after using a strap on for years.

HOOK: How did the wives feel about it?

MA: Typically, wives are reluctant at first. For others, it is a regular thing. Straight work is different from gay work. It is not always clear what the client wants.

HOOK: it seems uncommon that a guy can make a lot of money with straight women

MA: The straight market is typically in the strip clubs or women, but I don't think you can make a living at it.

HOOK: can you explain how you went about getting 'what the client whats' from the client.

MA: In the gay market, clients state it. They want oral or a bottom or a top. Real easy. Husbands don't typically come out and say, "I want you to fuck my wife."

HOOK: What do you ask them to get this information?

MA: The best question is, "What r u looking for?" The best questions are straight and to the point. Most escorts use their websites or advertising to state what they are into and since the bulk of the business is repeats, it pays for escorts to tell the truth. Be clear in your advertising, and you will attract the client you want.

HOOK: What led you to the book?

MA: I was curious about the business model for escorting. No one had written about the business model. After all, it was the first profitable and successful form of e-commerce.

HOOK: Can you explain what you mean by 'business model'?

MA: Basically, how does the business work, why do people succeed in it and who were the customers. I was talking to Damon Wolf this evening. He won Mr. Hotllanta a decade ago, has a wonderful husband, and has been one of the most successful male whores in a decade. He has a house, a paid for car. Why does someone like that succeed and not charge an arm and a leg, only see repeat clients, and love the work?

HOOK: ...and the answer?

MA: It just has to do with marketing, professionalism and being an all around nice guy that is not into drugs.

HOOK: How many guys did you interview for the book?
MA: I talked to hundreds of escorts and probably thousands of clients over three years. None of them knew I was writing a book.

HOOK: Do you feel like your book is a complete guide to the business?

MA: As it stands now, it is the best guide to the business. It is the only guide that can be used by clients, escorts and researchers.

HOOK: What led you to leaving the business?

MA: It was time to move on with my life. I started because I had always had the fantasy, needed the money and had just ended a relationship plus my biological clock was ticking. I needed to be a whore now while I could still do it.

HOOK: How did this all lead to your wife?

MA: That's an interesting question. My wife is in the adult business but does not do porn. She basically told me I was going to marry her, and was married before I could even think about it.

HOOK: Do you love her?

MA: I love my wife very much, and we have a wonderful relationship. Not too many people are told to marry one of the most beautiful women in the world, and one of the nicest ones, too. She is still in the business at a topless dancer. Quite frankly, I feel that I am very luck with my wife.

HOOK: Do you two have an arrangement about how she is able to interact with clients, etc.

MA: We respect each others privacy and from what I know about my wife, she is very good at setting her limits. Being in the adult business and having a relationship is very difficult.

HOOK: any tips on how to keep a relationship and be in the business?

MA: Respect is the most important thing. Setting aside "us" time is the second most important thing. Focusing on individual goals is the third most important thing. Quite frankly, marriage is easier than boyfriends since divorces are a lot more expensive than breakups so there is some incentive to keep things working. : Plus Nevada is a community property state and my wife forgot to ask or a prenup.

HOOK: So, how do you go about affirming your respect for each other?

MA: My wife and I concentrate on working on our goals. My wife is young and has a son by a previous relationship. My wife was an abandoned child and supports her grandparents. Those two issues come first. We also don't talk about money, we don't talk about work, and we rarely talk about what we do on our private time.

HOOK: What kinds of 'us' time do you set aside

MA: That means we spend our together time talking about what we want to do together and how we have done in meeting our goals. We get one day a weekend or sometimes a whole weekend or maybe a trip somewhere for a week. I really don't know how I lucked into this deal.