Online Dating Books

Introductory Online Dating Books

These books cover the basic topics that will help you pick an online dating site, post your profile and how to communicate with your potential dates.

Online Dating for Dummies

Covers all the basic topics of how online dating works, how to choose a dating web site, taking personality tests, developing your profile, communicating with matches and staying safe online. There are also tips on dealing with rejection and how to pick a photo.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Dating and Relating

This book contains basic information as you would expect from the title. But, because it was written in 1999 before many dating web sites were created, the search strategies deal with finding love on a variety of places on the web.

Putting Your Heart Online

This book is a little dated as it was written in 1998. However, much of the information is still relevant, such as how to break off an online relationship and how to move it to in-person if things are going well. There is also a section on how to handle the gender-imbalance found on many dating sites.

Internet Dating: Tips, Tricks and Tactics

Internet Dating is a short book that is filled with many basic tips and common sense advice that is easy to read and locate.

Online Dating Survival Guide

This is a straight-forward and well organized book on the basics of online dating. The book includes some success stories to help you stay motivated and provides tips on how to recognize—and what to do—if you become addicted to online dating.

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Online Dating

As the name suggests, it’s another book that covers all the basics of online dating. You will also find information on how to conduct background checks on possible dates, and special advice for groups, such as people over 50 and gays.

I Can't Believe I'm Buying This Book: A Commonsense Guide to Successful Internet Dating

This book purposely focuses on common sense with regard to online dating, since common sense is often forgotten when it comes to dating. The author has excellent advice on how to create your profile and offers all kinds of advice for communicating online and later meeting offline.

Romancing the Web: A Therapist's Guide to the Finer Points of Online Dating

This book is a therapist’s perspective regarding online dating. There are many generic topics such as choosing a photo, evaluating profiles of other people, and how to create your own profile. Some of the better advice deals with taking it slow when communicating with someone new and how to handle transitioning offline to focus on a new relationship.

Books for Women

These books cover many of the same topics as the introductory books, but they are written specifically for women.

The Rules for Online Dating: Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right in Cyberspace

This book is organized around 25 rules for attracting men online. Some of the advice includes not contacting men first, waiting 24 hours to respond when contacted, and delete a guy if he hasn’t asked you out within four e-mails. There are also advice for long-distance relationships, and older daters.

The Boomer's Guide to Online Dating

This book is written for women who are 35 years old and above who want advice on how to find love online. It is written by a journalist who found love online at age 52 after her marriage of 20 years ended.

Books for Men

These books cover much of the same material as the introductory books, but are designed for men only.

The Ultimate Man's Guide to Internet Dating: The Premiere Men's Resource

This book covers the basic online dating topics entirely from a man’s perspective. You’ll learn how to create your own profile, how to carefully read women’s profiles and how to quickly find a date.

How to Get the Woman of Your Dreams Using the Internet

This book offers much of the usual advice you’ll find in other books, but has a special section on meeting women outside of the United States. It covers issues related to having her enter the U.S. along with tips on traveling to her country.

Other Online Dating Books

The final books in this list are either more advanced than the introductory books, use humor or stories rather than tips, or cover a specific topic related to online dating.

Date or Soul Mate?

This book is written by Dr. Neil Clark Warren, founder of eHarmony.com. Though the book is not entirely about online dating, there are many chapters specific to online dating in general and the eHarmony dating service in particular.

I Love You, Let's Meet: Adventures in Online Dating

Written by a former sex columnist, this book looks at the big picture of online dating rather than providing tips and techniques for finding love online. Included in the book are interviews, anecdotes and personal stories of online dating by the author. Some of the topics investigated include how relationships that start online are different from offline relationships, and what kinds of people actually do find love online.

Virtual Foreplay: Making Your Online Relationships a Real-Life Success

Virtual Foreplay helps you to understand yourself and what you want in a partner so that you are more likely to turn online love into offline success. The book contains a lot of common sense advice for those looking for long-term relationships instead of casual dating.

Meet Me...Don't Delete Me. Internet Dating: I've Made All the Mistakes so You Don't Have To!

If you like to read interesting stories and looking at fun photos while learning how to succeed online, then this book may be for you. The advice you’ll find here isn’t too much different than other books, but the presentation and additional entertainment value help it stand out in the crowd.

Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor: The Best and Worst Personal Ads of All Time

This book is a perfect example of how to learn from others’ victories and mistakes. You won’t be taught how to write a great profile, but through seeing very good—and very bad personal ads—it will help you to avoid mistakes while crafting your perfect personal ad. The only downfall is that many examples in the book are from the 19th century.

Dating 911: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Dating

Dating911 is written by a former police chief who knows all about how criminals work and how you can stay safe. Everyone who dates online could benefit from this book, but it’s especially valuable those who are very concerned about safety.

Conclusion

Whether you are new to online dating or a veteran user of many dating web sites, consider purchasing a book or visiting your library to improve your chances of finding love online.