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= Workbook (Company) =

WorkBook LLC provides marketing services to commercial photographers, illustrators and their representatives. WorkBook LLC started as a printed directory of creative art buyers including art directors, editors, publishers and in-house corporate marketing teams. Physical copies of WorkBook have been distributed every year since 1978. Art buyers use the book to search for commercial artists. Since 1995, WorkBook has maintained a website, WorkBook.com featuring portfolios of commercial artists, and since 1998, the book has been available in an online version. WorkBook is a curated collection of artists. Prospective advertisers need to apply and be accepted by the WorkBook staff based on their demonstrated ability to perform commercially acceptable work.

History
In 1977, WorkBook founder, Alexis Scott, was working as a photographers’ representative when she misplaced her address book that contained the names and phone numbers of the creative industry buyers she depended on for marketing her clients. She realized how important that contact information was and began to gather a list of the Los Angeles based art buyers. She published this list as The L.A. Workbook in 1978. The next year she was approached by Photographers who wanted to place ads in the book. Over the next several years, the WorkBook evolved into a paid advertising source book that was sold in photography shops and book stores and distributed to commercial art buyers first in Los Angeles, and in 1980, to all of California as Workbook California Edition. In the early years, the commercial advertisers had to reside in California or have a representative based in California. Starting in 1990, advertisers were accepted from anywhere with the vast majority based in the United States. The title of the books became simply Workbook or The Workbook.

Commercial artists are for the most part independent contractors and as many independent contractors they are looking for their next assignment. Photographers and Illustrators saw Workbook and other source books as a way to connect with art buyers. Art buyers viewed the books as an efficient way to review the available talent and select the style they desired for their projects. Before the advent of the world wide web, sourcebooks like WorkBook were the only easy way to make these choices.

1990-2004
Workbook along with The Blackbook and Directory of Illustration became very popular in the creative industry. Starting as a single 160 page soft cover booklet in 1977, it wasn’t until 1990 that Workbook began publishing separate hard cover books for Photography and Illustration. By 2000, the annual WorkBook comprised three volumes (photography was divided into East and West) and 2,500 pages. Workbook went to a smaller format in 2010 and began releasing two sets of books per year, spring and fall.

WorkBook also published a series of books titled “Single Image” from 1990 to 2004. The large- format, softcover books offered more artistic photography and illustration compared to the commercially focused WorkBooks.

2006
With the rise of the internet, WorkBook developed a stock photography business. The business competed with giants in the industry including Getty Images. In 2006, Jupiter Images purchased the stock business from WorkBook. In 2008, Jupiter was acquired by Getty Images and WorkBook images are still available there. The publishing business remained separate and autonomous as Workbook LLC.

Internet and Social Media
In 2009, Scott sold Workbook LLC to William Daniels, a professional investor who saw the opportunity to expand the marketing aspects of the business with the internet and social media. Daniels has used WorkBook LLC as the core holding to acquire similar businesses including Folioplanet, an illustration only website in 2011, Dripbook, Inc. an automated professional portfolio website in 2013, Illustration Age and Illustration Friday, illustration community websites, in 2016. In 2014, Workbook spun off it’s Directory into Yodelist.com as a separate marketing company.