Wylie-Merrick is a small agency that has been in business for a few years now, and is still building its track record (it has a small number of sales to independent publishers--none, as yet, to major houses). Previously, it required clients to reimburse submission costs on an ongoing basis, but it recently switched to the more standard practice of letting such costs accrue, and deducting them from the writer's advance in the event of a sale.
However, at the moment it's offering "evaluative critiques" to submitters for a fee of $50. The critique is optional, and the fee is returned if the submission is accepted for representation--but again, this is not standard practice among successful agents, who don't typically offer paid "adjunct" services to non-clients.
- Victoria