Wolcott Literary Agency

That's quite poorly written. They say 'by charging fees' when it should be 'in charging fees', use 'found' where the sense suggests 'found out' (ie discovered or uncovered), use 'talented' to modify 'writing', and I'm pretty sure they don't mean 'average' when they say that 'the market average is 15%'.
It reads more like a pitch for editing services than for agent services. If so, I'd prefer to have my work edited by someone with a more polished command of the language.
On a minor point, they charge $50 for reading a short story, then claim "The ONLY money we earn is our commission from the sale of your works!" Which may be true in the sense that the reading fee is unearned.
-Barbara

Nice. Their about page says they've been in business since 1996. P&E says not recommended.

Wolcott Literary does charge reading fees, unless you have previously been published in the same field or genre by a non-subsidy publisher*, but there are benefits in doing so and they are two-fold. 1.) We GUARANTEE to read and evaluate each and every manuscript we request to see within 45 days.

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Oh, they guarantee it. So it's all right. Wait a minute... they guarantee they'll read and evaluate for $150 smackers. Isn't that what legitimate agents do for free?

And the blue text on mottled gray background has officially turned the pinched feeling behind my eyes into a full-blown headache.

We are aggressively seeking out new talent for representation, and we understand how much of an asset timely and personalized responses from agencies can be to the writer. We are expanding our agency rapidly, and a great percentage of the manuscripts we review are selected for representation.

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Wow. My $150 bucks is buying me a timely and personalized response. Hmm, let's see... timely and personalized, $150, versus possibly not timely or personalized but possibly either or both, free. Tough, tough call.

Of course, they could just chuck out a form letter with my name and book title merged into it, or for $6 an hour hire some kid to "insert vague but pleasant line of encouragement here" on each letter.

Does "I am in the wrong business" have a cute acronym like "IMHO"? It should, given the number of times I think it looking at some of these companies.

If we see something marketable in your writing, even if there are flaws or format problems, we will work with new writers to get their manuscripts into the shape they need to be in for approaching publishers.

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Shucks, that's awful sweet. With all that working with and getting into shape, it's a wonder they have any time to, you know, actually make sales.

I'd bet a donut if I had one that the next step is referal to an editing service anyway. Bleh!

(I just clicked back to the main page to see if this was a joke and now I'm really blinded.)

Lay you odds they have hundreds of clients, too. They wouldn't have the time or resources to copy, address, and send out all those manuscripts for a stable that large. they even admit that they're accepting authors all the time. It's a factory

Tri

The Wolcott Agency has been around for years (Writer Beware has gotten many reports of its fees), but as far as I know has never made a commercial book sale.

P.S. This is a textbook example of why it's not a good idea to search for literary agents online.

- Victoria

Victoria-
What's wrong with searching online if we stop by PE and watercooler before sending the query?

I'm about to put up a blog post on that very subject. Stop by later this evening.

- Victoria