that so many different courts, judges, probation departments, and DA's handle this thing that there is absolutely no way that you should ever follow any advice that you get on a national posting board.

The only advice you can possibly rely upon is whatever you get from a local attorney.  Please use one or the rest of your experience with this will be filled with even more anxiety and possible heartache.

Good luck.

Definitely retain the services of a qualified attorney.

You may have to pay a fine.

If it's your first offense have your lawyer plead it down (you don't want a prostitution charge). If you are convicted of prostitution, the charge will appear on your criminal record, which can be damaging when you attempt to obtain employment, housing and education opportunities.

Good luck with everything...

a friend of mine, an escort, was busted, charged with prostitution.  She got a good lawyer, and as a result (1) she never had to show up in court; and (2) the charges were dismissed and the record was expunged (i.e., erased - no record at all).

Repeat:  get a lawyer.

Follow the advice here from others and GET A LAWYER. Lawyers know the system and to some extent how to get it to work for a client or at least to minimize the impacts of being involved in it. You should have asked the question before the 1st appearance as that is when you have the best time to cut a deal.  The APP or ADA assigned to the case probably is just out of law school or in some states is still in school and has been assigned 3x the files he can handle.  Anytime he can cut a deal and close a file quickly is a big plus.  In my practice, I did not do crim law but sat in on hearings and appearances and saw others in your situation who were represented. With a decent lawyer, a low level plea, a fine, maybe some community service and some probation period, especially on a 1st office. Unrepresented, duck the book can hit you in the head.

Possibly, if in a major city and others here in the same city, someone can recommend someone who has helped them and had a positive result.  As with any profession, there are good ones and bad ones and maybe you can use TER in a way to help.

My sole tip is:
DO NOT MISS YOUR COURT DATE!
Show up early. Yes, court will not start on time and you will be waiting around for hours for only a few minutes before the judge, but better to be bored than to have a bench warrant because of your FTA. FTA is lawyer-speak for Failure to Appear. In some instances, the FTA can actually be a more serious offense than the charge on which you were supposed to appear.

OK, I have a few more. Dress appropriately. Jeans and flip-flops aren't appropriate, even in Southern California. Don't show cleavage. Cover up the tattoos and take out the piercings. The piercings will set off the metal detectors anyways when you enter the building. Take the gum out of your mouth and turn off your cell phone. Refer to the judge as Your Honor. When the judge asks you a question, speak slowly, loudly, clearly, and respectfully. Not just for the judge and the attorneys, but also because there's a court reporter or a tape recorder taking everything down. Only speak when you are prompted to. Court isn't the time to jump up during a prosecuting attorney's recital of the facts and say, "That's bullshit! She had it coming when I hit her!" There's that court reporter who just recorded it and it will be used against you. Oh, and the bailiff is now real unhappy. And you've made the only person in the room who matters unhappy, the judge, because he's got another hundred matters to get through and your outburst hasn't added anything but instead taken up valuable time. Yes, these are all simple minor things that should seem obvious, but I've given up on assuming people should know the obvious. At the misdemeanor level, impressions count a lot, since the judge will have very little information and spend minimal time to evaluate you.

Has the court appointed a public defender, contract defender, legal aid, or some sort of lawyer for you? By the United States Constitution, a person cannot be imprisoned unless he had counsel at trial or he waived his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Since traffic tickets are fine-only offenses, there is no US Constitution right to an attorney for traffic court, though there may be a state constitution right. A court-appointed lawyer probably can provide better legal advice than strangers on the Internet, particularly since you haven't said which jurisdiction you're in.

Retaining your own attorney may or may not be better. I have seen far too many times where a person would have been better served by an experienced public defender than the shyster he  found in the yellow pages. But public defenders have crushing caseloads, particularly for misdemeanors, so often for misdemeanor clients, there's no meeting until the court date, and even then, it's a brief 2-minute encounter. Definitely not reassuring or comforting for a first venture into the Kafka-esque labyrinth that serves as the criminal justice system in the United States. If you need help finding a criminal lawyer, do an internet search for a lawyer referral service in your area. Usually, the local bar association will have setup a phone line to get referrals to local lawyers.

Let's see... what else. Keep all your paperwork. Make photocopies of anything the court gives you, in case you lose it. Don't assume. If the court asks you to do something and you don't understand, find someone to explain it to you. You don't want to violate your probation. PROBATION DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE COMPLETELY FREE TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. People just hear the judge say the fine and the "You're free to go," but then get in trouble because they forgot to go to the classes, show up for the drug testing, or whatever. Probation means that you are released subject to certain conditions. You want to satisfy those conditions. Not just to stay out of custody, but also when you want to get the conviction expunged. By the way, expungement does not means it's gone or sealed forever. Any background check will reveal it.

Oh, and one last thing. Say thank you to your attorney if you think your lawyer has done a good job for you.