The market analyst definition of casual reader and the one we use around here is that a casual reader buys several books a *year* rather than several books a month.
It has nothing to do with reading attitude and everything to do with buying habits.
Casual readers don't stockpile books; they buy when they are going to read it.
It might be a bestseller or a midlist/backlist title that has come to their attention somehow.
Casual readers should not be taken lightly; they may not buy as many books, individually, as avid readers but there are way more of them.
This difference in habits has been under discussion for years and came to the forefront after the iPad/iBooks launch:
http://thenextweb.com/us/2010/06/21/...ronic-reading/
Quote:
Casual V. Not
This discussion could perhaps have set up a false dilemma if Apple is not shooting to grasp the hand of the heavy reader to lead them to iPad-land. It could be that Apple merely wants to court the casual reader, and is willing to leave the rest to the rest.
Amazon and Barnes and Noble would likely find this to be a sort of truce, but not one that they would want to let stand long. Casual readers are an important slice of the book market; they fuel explosive bestsellers by appearing out of the woodwork at odd moments. You want them.
If Apple is courting casuals, then this is the question: will enough people buy the iPad to ensure a large enough pool of occasional book-buyers to have a marketshare worth talking about.
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Again: casual readers buy books *when* they want to read them. If they don't find them, they don't buy another book. They go do something else.