{"id":"free-rate-research","audience":"freelancers","category":"research","technique":"grounding","title":"Summarize what your sources say about illustration rates","free":false,"task":"You're a freelance illustrator pricing black-and-white spot illustrations for a chapter book, and you've gathered notes from four sources. You want at most 3 bullets, under 80 words, plain text, each bullet naming its source and its numbers. Leave out the 2019 blog post (it's outdated), add nothing from outside your notes, and don't tell you what to charge: you'll decide. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.","materialLabel":"Your research notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Research notes - pricing b&w spot illustrations for a children's chapter book\n\nSource 1: Picture Book Artists Guild, 2026 Rates Survey (412 illustrators answered)\n- B&w spot illustration: median $250, most between $150 and $400.\n- Full-color spot: median $375 (not what I'm doing).\n\nSource 2: \"Doodle Money\" blog post, 2019\n- \"Charge $75-$100 per spot, never more, or publishers will walk!\"\n- This is old. Rates have gone up a lot since then.\n\nSource 3: Poll in my Facebook group \"Kidlit Illustrators Hangout\" (Oct 2026, 58 answers)\n- Most said they charge $200-$300 per b&w spot. Not scientific, just people answering.\n\nSource 4: Email from my agent, Rachel\n- \"Publishers I work with usually budget $3,000-$5,000 for 15-20 b&w spots in a chapter book, as a flat fee.\"\n\nThe offer I'm looking at: Brookfield Kids Press, 18 b&w spots, $2,700 flat, due Feb 2027.\n\nRandom: need to renew my brush pack. Coffee shop wifi is terrible today.","rules":[{"type":"maxBullets","max":3},{"type":"maxWords","max":80},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Asking \"what should I charge?\"","why":"The AI jumps to advice and mixes in rates from its own memory, which you can't trace or check.","fix":"Add: \"Summarize only what my sources say. Don't tell me what to charge.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Treating every source the same","why":"The AI averages the old blog in with the 2026 survey, dragging the numbers down.","fix":"Add: \"Leave out the 2019 blog post. It's outdated.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Losing track of sources","why":"AI blends the numbers into one range, so you can't tell which came from a survey of 412 and which from a Facebook poll.","fix":"Add: \"Each bullet names its source and gives that source's numbers.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Getting a long report","why":"AI writes headings, a bullet per detail, and a conclusion section.","fix":"Be exact: \"At most 3 bullets, one per source. Plain text.\"","checks":["maxBullets","plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 80 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part instead, like \"each line under 15 words,\" so the total lands near 60.","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Keeps it to your notes","patterns":["only.{0,25}(notes|sources)","no outside","nothing (else|outside)"]},{"label":"Drops the outdated source","patterns":["2019","blog","outdated","old"]},{"label":"Names each source","patterns":["(name|cite|label).{0,15}source","source.{0,20}each","each.{0,20}source"]},{"label":"Asks for no advice","patterns":["(no|don't|do not|without).{0,15}(advice|recommend|tell me what)","i'll decide"]},{"label":"Sets a size limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)","under \\d+"]}],"hint":"Your notes are the research. Tell the AI to stay inside them, which source to drop, to name each source, and that the pricing decision is yours.","rubricLabels":["Each bullet names one source (the Guild 2026 survey, the Facebook group poll, or agent Rachel's email) and its numbers match that source (median $250 and $150-$400; $200-$300; $3,000-$5,000 for 15-20 spots)","Leaves out the 2019 blog post's $75-$100 rate (or, if it mentions it, clearly labels it outdated)","Adds no outside rates or general pricing advice, and does not say what to charge or whether to accept the Brookfield offer"]}