Favourite books attract the opposite sex

Ahead of world book day (April 23rd) we worked with the relationship experts at eHarmony to reveal the impact that your favourite books can have on your online dating profile.

We mined site data to find the most frequently occurring book titles in user profiles and mapped this against the number of communications received. The findings revealed that people who enjoy reading received more messages from potential partners. Men received 19% more communications, while women saw a more modest 3% bump.

In terms of titles, listing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo resulted in a significant increase in communications, jumping up 36% for men and 31% for women on average. Women who stated they read The Hunger Games also saw a huge 44% increase in messages received. But female fans of Fifty Shades of Gray should look away now, as communications fell by -16%.

Surprisingly, mentions of a book by Richard Branson also saw a dramatic increase in the number of messages received. Up 74% for men and 19% for women, both clearly interested in finding someone with entrepreneurial spirit.

The story achieved fantastic coverage both in print and online. It was picked up by Grazia, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Refinery 29 among others, reaching millions of bookworms and cementing the brand’s focus on long-lasting compatibility.