From LMS to iBook: Maximizing Your Content’s Reach

What good is great content if it doesn’t reach your target audience? In many ways, maximizing your content’s distribution is just as important (if not more so) than the content itself.

Here at Inkling, we understand the need for multichannel outputs for both publishers and corporate learning teams. When a great new title or new edition is ready for readers, we know that publishers want to reach the broadest audience possible, through print, eBook resale channels, and enhanced digital experiences on the web and on mobile devices. The same applies to corporate learning: the training & development team does all it can to reach employees and partners through a variety of means to support a blended learning curriculum.

Inkling Export Updates

This month, we’re excited to make the export process a little easier. With Inkling Habitat’s enhanced export framework, book publishers can now export versions of EPUB files that are ready for Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks. In addition, enterprise learning authors can export SCORM packages for simpler integration into a Learning Management System (LMS). We’ve also enhanced the baseline EPUB export, and expect to continue updating that output as the EPUB3 standard evolves.

EPUB:
Of course, authors and publishers know that Amazon and Apple stores have their own takes on digital book files. Although both are theoretically friendly with the EPUB standard, they have a variety of requirements that can surprise EPUB creators, in addition to guidelines that may affect content layouts. So, a word to the wise: while we designed our new export framework to be adaptive to both customer needs and evolving format needs, authors may need to adjust their layouts or interactivity to suit these formats.

SCORM:
SCORM, meanwhile, is a well-established standard with years of refinement behind it, and cross-system compatibility is rarely an issue. Interactive content authored in Inkling Habitat will work well in the browser-based players launched by any modern LMS, such as SuccessFactors, SumTotal, or Cornerstone. However, just because you can funnel all of your content through an LMS, doesn’t mean you should. While LMSs work well for assigning and tracking required learning, they lack the ease of access and content search options required to be good reference tools.

Choosing Your Distribution Channels

Given all these factors, content creators should choose their distribution channels carefully. Different channels offer specific benefits, but not all content belongs in all channels. Fortunately, using a standards-based authoring system like Inkling Habitat means that you’ll be ready to use whatever channels fit your needs and update the content to match.

For example, when deploying training content to your employees, you can launch a small set of required content in an LMS, and link back to the full title in Inkling Axis via your intranet. In the case of publishing, you can export e-book versions to sell through the Amazon and Apple stores, while also providing a rich digital experience in your own mobile app via the Latitude SDK.

The bottom line:

It may take some experimentation to find the mix and process that works best for you. But for content owners, more flexibility is a good thing. With our export updates, we’re excited that Inkling customers now have more tools to reach their audiences in more places.

To learn more about Inkling’s digital publishing tools–Inkling Habitat, Inkling Axis, and Inkling Latitude–request a free demo from our sales team.