WL Poets Agency / The Poets Literary Agency

James D. Macdonald

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Writers Literary Agency

There's a new scam in town: Writers Literary Agency & Marketing Company. They've supposedly "acquired" The Literary Agency Group (home of Sydra Techniques/ST Literary Agency/Stylus Literary Agency/The New York Literary Agency/Christian Literary Agency/Childrens Literary Agency/Poets Literary Agency/The Screenplay Agency).

Same cast of characters, same lack of sales, same fraud.
 
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eddo

Evening all, just to let you know that the infamous bobbys reach extends further than the great states of america.

L'il bastard almost had me, and i'm from blighty!!!

Ms Fine mailed me today to tell me she wanted my book and after a quick google search of the WL Agency guess where i ended up?

So to all of you many thanks for the warning, youv saved me hell from the sounds of it.

And just to return the favour i'm going to mail Ms Fine and ask her a few questions, any answers i get will be posted here.

Once again many thanks everyone, keep up the good work!!
 

Sassenach

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And just to return the favour i'm going to mail Ms Fine and ask her a few questions, any answers i get will be posted here.

Waste of time and pixels. You'll simply receive the usual auto-responder crap.
 

eddo

Ms Fine speaks

Well you were wrong Sassenach, I got a reply from MS Fine herself.

Of course it was still full of crap.

She evaded all of my questions and basically labled me as a writer who was paranoid of having their work stolen.

She also contradicted herself when i asked her about the authors that had been published through WL agency, saying that they were a new company looking for new talent with no mentiong to the existing talent or deals that had been made.

The shameful thing is that even upto that point i wanted to believe and with the right answers may well have been willing to try to live the dream at the expense of ignoring my commn sense and the various warnings.

Its just such a kick in the pants, i thought that i might have actually been getting somewhere!!!

These B****** should be nailed to the F****** wall!!!

Once agian thanks guys, and before i go, would any of youse guys happen to be an agent looking to pick up a crime fiction novel?

No?

Just though i'd ask!!!
 

Lonzw

Agency Exposed

Mr. MacDonald: Thanks you so much for posting the infomation regarding the agency mentioned above. Before I even sent a nickle to them I realize they truly are a scam. They offered me a contract for my poetry (which had alread been critiqued) and insisted that I used their service (for a fee of course). That notwithstanding they could not provide me even one poet that has been published because of their efforts.

Besides all the postings I have read my 'red flag' was the fact that they would not even agree to have a phone conversation with me...common sense. I was born at night but not last night.
 

Candy

WL Poets agency scam

I have a collection of poetry that I am desperate to have published. I recently heard back from WL poets agency saying that need my work critiqued and they have sent a contract. Through someone's advice I checked them out and found this site. I'd just like to say thank you very much to everyone who has posted their comments about the scam agency. I'm so glad that I dodn't go any further with them. Does anyone know of any bona fide agencies for poets?
 
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Momento Mori

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Hi, Candy and welcome to Absolute Write. I hope you stick around.

It's difficult to find agents or publishers for poetry because there isn't much money to be made from it. Hopefully some of the other members will be able to give you specific suggestions or who to try, but you could also check out the Writers and Artist's Year Book, if you're in the UK as that's a pretty reliable directory of agents and publishers (and you can double check back here if you've got any questions or want to check anything).

There's also a poetry discussion forum herehttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14 if you want to check out that.

MM
 

James D. Macdonald

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Hi, Candy.

You don't need an agent to submit poetry anywhere. Which is just as well, since legitimate agents don't handle poetry (except, perhaps, as a favor to existing clients, or if you're already Robert Bly).

Here's what to do:

Where do you find the poetry that you yourself read? Look on the masthead of those magazines and look for submission information. Write for their guidelines and follow those guidelines to the letter.

As Momento said, the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook is what you'll want if you're in the UK (or wish to submit in the UK). If you're in the USA, get a copy of the Poet's Market (2008 is the current edition). Look for appropriate markets. Get their guidelines and follow those guidelines to the letter.

The good news is that many magazines print poetry as filler, so the market isn't as tight as short stories. The bad news is that the payment is often a token. As far as publishing collections of poetry, the situation is bleak. Garner a whole bunch of major awards, then ask again.

Take heart that you avoided WL Writers' scam. They'd get you to pay for their critique (something that they're fully incompetent to do), but they'd have no better luck than you would yourself at selling your work. I'truth, you'll have better luck than they would, because you'll actually submit your material, and you'll only send it to appropriate markets.
 

KTC

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Hello Candy,

Thank God you found AW. I'm glad for you. Like James said...you do NOT need an agent to submit poetry. Follow his Poet's Market lead. You can also find some great market leads around the net. Just google Paying Poetry Markets, or the like. Do not look for an agent for your poetry.
 

sandyn

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As some of you might know, I was almost sucked in by WL Literary Agency.

Why, oh why, hasn't this scammer been arrested and put in jail??? He solicits money and provides nothing.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Well you were wrong Sassenach, I got a reply from MS Fine herself.

Of course it was still full of crap.

She evaded all of my questions and basically labled me as a writer who was paranoid of having their work stolen.

It was a form letter, one that we've seen many times before.
 

T.Trivett

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I have been researching this company & should have known I'd find all of the info I needed right here.

Thanks James and all.
 

E. S. Lark

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I have been looking to get my collection out there and when i found wlpoetry i decided to apply. They seemed very nice and so I sent in one poem . . . then got accepted and sent in 3 more. I am now waiting on a referral for a critique. Something this morning told me to look them up . . . wanted to read more on their site . . . but when i used google, this was the first thing I saw. I cannot believe i fell for this and even got my hopes up. Thanks everyone, for warning me.
 

cethklein

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Question: Why do people even fall for things like this? Any agency with a name as generic as "The Poets' Literary Agency" obviously isn't very professional.
 

KTC

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Question: Why do people even fall for things like this? Any agency with a name as generic as "The Poets' Literary Agency" obviously isn't very professional.


When someone answers your dream and you are anxious to be 'discovered' it's fairly easy to be lured. I'm guessing.
 

underthecity

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It's also an act of desperation. Perhaps you've submitted your to so many places, then one finally says yes. And it so happens that it's this WL Agency, PL Agency, and even Publishamerica. The joy happens first, common sense kicks in later, hence the visit from kyva, candy, Lonzw, etc.

(Just found out that, completely by accident, this comment is similar to this one in the PA thread.)

allen
 
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gophergrrrl

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Hey, I just posted @ http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008839.html, but I thought I might get a quicker response here. (I'm going to copy and paste my post-- I'm lazy hehe)

<i>Hey guys, I was looking some more up on the 'agency', and I came across something that confused me.
Go Here: http://www.wlwritersagency.com/TheEnemyIsWithin.html
Now, go to this page on Amazon's site: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1425959954/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

Does WL really represent this guy? Or do they just pick random people and put up phony pages on their site, claiming to represent them? How did this guy go from WL to selling on Amazon? It doesn't say (or maybe I missed it?) that this guy 'self published' this book. What's up with that? Did WL really get him a deal or what?

</i>