How Much Does Love Cost: 33 Essays on Modern Dating

“Backley has crafted a thoughtful, thorough, well-written, realistic, helpful and, yes, very funny book about the do’s and don’ts of all things pertaining to modern romance. There’s sort of a Chuck Klosterman meets Dr. Drew vibe involved. And the guy has clearly done his research. If that means he had to suffer so the rest of us won’t, so be it.”
- Jory John, co-author of “All my friends are dead”

So you’re single and you’ve missed the boat to what is an apparently blissful island. Unfortunately, there’s no manual to love, so we learn about relationships from hackneyed Rom-Coms, recycled internet tales, and advice from your ugly friend saying, "this one time..." But for better or worse, modern dating is rapidly changing, and with The New York Times declaring “The End of Courtship,” each gender is left in the cold trying to figure out the next dance.

How Much Does Love Cost is a pep-talk and a how-to guide for modern singles from former HowAboutWe columnist Chris Backley. His advice for millennial romantics has also appeared on Ask Men, Thought Catalog, and he was interviewed on CBC radio for the topic, "Is Courtship Dead and Gone or Just Evolving?"

How Much Does Love Cost is a pep-talk and a how-to guide for modern singles.

33 Essays on Modern Dating (with 33 original photographs) include:
- “How Hollywood is Ruining the Modern Romance“
- “The World Famous Two-Question Dating Quiz”
- “It’s Time to Update Your Fairy Tale”
- “3 Ways to Get Over Your Ex”
- “How To: Go on a First Date”
- “Here’s Why You’re Not Having Great Sex”
- “Decoding First Date Conversation”
- “3 Benefits to Dating after Twenty-Five“
- “There Are No Soul Mates”
- “What is Romance”

Plus three bonus essays:
- “The Dos and Don’ts of Online Dating”
- “SBFB: Stop Being Fucking Boring”
- “Can Dating be Fun Again?”

Chris Backley is a world traveling paramedic writer. His writing has been featured on Ask Men, Thought Catalog, The LAist, Medium, PRSUIT, and the fitness website Chalkboard Mag. He currently lives in downtown Los Angeles but plans on moving to Paris and retiring in Wyoming. Check him out at ChrisBackley.com