There's a new star on the Indian mass-market fiction horizon...

...and his name is Ravinder Singh. He is the author of I Too Had a Love Story (1 lakh copies in three months), Can Love Happen Twice? (3.5 lakh copies), and the just-released Like It Happened Yesterday, which had a pre-launch order of 2 lakh copies.

All three books have apparently struck a chord with young readers because they are easy on the wallet — as well as on the brain.

As Ravinder Singh himself says in an interview with Sonal Nerurkar in The Times of India Crest Edition, his readers would be intimidated by "dictionary-oriented literary fiction".

Ravinder Singh, or "Ravin", as he is known, struck gold with his very first effort, I Too Had a Love Story, which was published in 2008:

[It] is based on Singh's experience of first love, which ended tragically with the death of his fiancêe Khushi in a car accident. The book is an intimate recount of their romance, starting online with pinky-swear passion, deepening as they discover shared values and common goals. Lacking poetic language or nuance, the book scores in earnestness and ardour. "I may lack literary skills but I speak from the heart, " Singh says.

Nerurkar, whose article is headlined "Maharaja of Mush", writes that, initially, Ravin was upset by the lack of attention his work received from the mainstream press. But today he feels differently:

"There are those who feel we are spoiling the world of writing," he says. "But if there is demand, there will be supply." The perception that literary works are better than mass market fiction is changing, Singh feels, and he's doing his best to turn the tide in his favour.

RAVINDER SINGH AT THE LAUNCH OF HIS NEW BOOK.

Ravinder Singh is also the subject of the cover story in last week's Mint Lounge, titled "The School of Singh", in which Somak Ghosal profiles not only Ravinder Singh but also Durjoy Datta and Sachin Garg — all three are acknowledged champs of mass-market fiction.

Read the Mint Lounge cover story here.

• ADDITIONAL READING: "Why we should applaud Amish (and ignore what purists say about his writing skills?)" and "Chetan Bhagat on how to take your English to the next level".

• Can Love Happen Twice? and Like It Happened Yesterday are available in the Commits library.

• Photograph courtesy: Aniruddha Choudhury/Mint