The boss at Plan for Kids has plenty of tales to tell about getting kids to read these days

Risuan Aramcharoen insists on reading the whole story of the black crow that wants to be white - and then four more stories. It's the sort of obsessiveness you have to expect from someone who publishes children's books.

She's been like this for at least 15 years, previously at the parenting magazine Rak Luk and now as managing director of Plan for Kids, the publishing house.

"A lot of people think it's easy to put out a children's book - you just get an illustrator and it's done," says Risuan, before sharing the story of her own job - beginning with knowing the market and knowing what types of books kids at different ages like to read.

Of course, having children of her own helped her in that regard, but then there is the research, the focus groups, the networking - and the struggle to make parents understand how important it is to get their kids reading.

"Sometimes I have to talk to parents to make sure they make time to read to their children. Despite what they say, they do have the time - 10 or 15 minutes is enough."

Maintaining global connections is the other big challenge in Risuan's job. She's hooked up with book conventions across Asia, exporting Thai writers and importing ideas and foreign titles to translate.

She's licensed the Thai storybooks "Rice" and "Butterfly" in Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India. She brings home books from Japan that she expects to do well here.

"Japanese kids are curious about everything," she says, "so they have books about breasts, noses, how scars happen, you name it."

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Happily ever after

>> There are lots of tales to tell at www.PlanForKids.com.