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Summarize what your sources say about illustration rates

Practice: Keeping the AI to your sources. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

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 Leave out the 2019 blog post (it's outdated), add nothing from outside your notes, and don't tell you what to charge: you'll decide.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.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Asking "what should I charge?". The AI jumps to advice and mixes in rates from its own memory, which you can't trace or check. Try: Add: "Summarize only what my sources say. Don't tell me what to charge."
  • Treating every source the same. The AI averages the old blog in with the 2026 survey, dragging the numbers down. Try: Add: "Leave out the 2019 blog post. It's outdated."
  • Losing track of sources. 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. Try: Add: "Each bullet names its source and gives that source's numbers."
  • Getting a long report. AI writes headings, a bullet per detail, and a conclusion section. Try: Be exact: "At most 3 bullets, one per source. Plain text."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 80 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead, like "each line under 15 words," so the total lands near 60.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Keeps it to your notes
  • Drops the outdated source
  • Names each source
  • Asks for no advice
  • Sets a size limit

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