How Much Does It Cost to Find Love
Jiayi (Cassie) Xu
How Much Does It Cost To Find Love is a book that collects 21 personal dating ad entries per year from 1983 to 1993 (231 total) posted on New York Magazine's "Strictly Personals" section, where people pay by each line, 36 characters, to describe themselves and their desired other half in the hopes of finding love. Viewers who were interested could respond by sending messages to the magazine to connect with the author. The cost of each line of entries increased significantly over the 11 years from $14.95 to $33; authors of the entries range in age from 20s to 70s, were female and male, married and single, heterosexual and homosexual.
This book calculated how much it would cost to post each entry in New York Magazine and how the messages in different price ranges differed. In the index, this book provides a unique perspective on sorting the entries and provides multiple reading options for readers to start with. Other than the entries, this book also captured original illustrations, text, and ads of the same date as the entries were printed to restore the same texture, and provide readers with more references while reading. Readers of this book will be able to see grouped data such as keywords, age, price, and gender to help them better understand the book and the entries, as well as build a cross-time connection with people from 30 years ago and their desire for love.