When WLWA first started, they were known as Sydra-Techniques Literary Agency and they charged a reading fee. That changed soon after some of the big forums got started and the word got around that reading fees were verbotten. This is because the AAR forbid those for its members as it created a distinct conflict of interest. For one thing, agents receiving reading fees didn't have any real incentive to sell what they represented. For another, agents didn't have any reason to reject anyone even if their writing wasn't up to standards.
Soooo, after another name change, they came up with the idea of requesting writers obtain a critique. Of course, the only critique service they recommended wasn't at all third party or independent because they owned it. It's basically the kind of scam that a new writer might fall for because they lack enough knowledge and experience about publishing to not know better.
Shortly after that, WLWA embellished their scheme with an editing offer after a brief wait so that they could claim the work wasn't selling because it needed polishing. Then they later added the offer of a web page to assist them in selling the manuscript, but the author had to pay for the web page, of course. Eventually, they'd suggest to the author that their aggressive selling program might suit the manuscript in question. Generally, after that WLWA would drop the author. Either it was unlikely that the writer would fall for anything else or WLWA lacked more ideas to foist upon their victims.
