By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - American writer Laura Moriarty has come out into the open with her reading habits - she listens to books rather than reads them.

Although growth in the audio book industry has been brisk, with overall sales rising five percent last year to $871 million, many in the literary world turn their noses up at the thought.

But Moriarty, 27, author of the best-selling "The Centre of Everything" and a newly-released second novel "The Rest of Her Life," says audio books suit her lifestyle - a single mother who suffers from insomnia.

She spoke to Reuters about her writing, listening, and the pressures of scoring a hit with a debut novel:

Q: There's been a four-year gap in your books. Why?

A: "It is my full-time job but I had a baby in between. It was slow going with the craziness of having a newborn."

Q: Was it hard to write a second novel after the success of your first which led some critics to hail you the new Alice Munro, Alice McDermott or Anna Quindlen?

A: "No. I just felt really excited to start on something else new. I did read a lot of reviews of other authors though and realized you can't please everyone. I thought of my favorite authors and realized that I hadn't liked everything they had ever written."

Q: Have you had much feedback from readers?

A: "I am just starting to now. People would write handwritten notes to my publisher but I have finally got my Web site going and people can email me more easily. I just love it. Now that I am writing there will be days that go by when I don't speak to anyone so when people write it is very encouraging."

Q: Any negative feedback?

A: "I've only got one negative one -- from an 82-year-old woman living in a retirement home in Florida who though that a writer of my talent did not need to resort to profanity."

Q: Your new book is about a mother and daughter relationship. Does this alienate male readers?

A: "Well, it is something I am familiar with and captures readers' interest. It hits both age groups and my readers comment that they liked it. In this book I have a very strong male character but it might alienate a male readership ... but you do get men who love to read and are intellectually curious."

Q: Did you expect your first book to be such a hit?

A: "I never thought I would make a living as a writer. It was so overwhelming that I needed some time off to think."

Q: Have you started the next book?

A: "I have. They will all be different and I would never think I was writing to a formula but there is a mother-daughter relationship at the heart of it. "

Q: Do you have a deadline to deliver?

A: No, they are being very nice for me. I am a single parent so I guess when I run out of money it is due."

Q: What do you read?

A: "I am generally busy these days but I listen to books on tape. I do suffer from insomnia. I keep a Walkman by the bed and I am amazed how much reading I get done. On particularly bad sleepless times I will get through easily a novel a week. I know some people think it is an inferior form of literature but I think I remember more sometimes."

Q: What are you listening to now?

A: "To Jane Smiley's "All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton." It is fabulous. I almost look forward to having insomnia these days."