Here's a tale of woe to set the ball rolling, proving how easy it is for the unscrupulous to take advantage of our ambitions, and how difficult it is for hopeful writers not to jump at even the slightest sniff of opportunity.

I'd imagine we all do it; trawl through the current 'Writers' and Artists' Yearbook' and check out potential agencies' websites, choosing those we believe will be most interested in what we have to offer. But because not all of them are specific in what they prefer to see, and because the last thing we want is to miss out that one agent who might be receptive to our work on that particular day, we inevitably also submit to those who fall somewhat short of the industry's codes-of-practice standard.

Well, I can't claim ignorance over this one. I'd read plenty of advice from various sources which said 'never submit to agents who charge a reading fee as they will not be members of the Association of Authors' Agents and there will be no protection should things go wrong.' Very good advice, I thought. However, one such agency, Abbey Agency of Cambridgeshire, UK, had been on my short-list because their write-up said that their aim was to 'encourage new writers.' It also clearly stated that such writers were charged a reading fee. Nevertheless, my submission went off.
A week later I received a letter requesting the full ms. This was a stock letter, addressed to 'Dear Author' and not signed. It informed me that the proprietor, Faith Dakin, had injured her arm and could not personally reply, but that she and her associate, Malcolm Scott, would be reading and assessing all ms. Their reading fee policy was reiterated, stating that although it was no guarantee of publication, the full report which would be generated ought to be of use to the author whatever the outcome. So, in November 03, fully informed of the situation, I sent off my precious manuscript, plus a fee of £137. I later received a receipt.

I heard nothing more so in March 04 I wrote asking for an update, including an sae. There was no reply. In April I rang them, and had to leave a message on Malcolm Scott's phone. He later returned my call, saying that Faith Dakin's injury (a serious dog-bite, I was told) had slowed things up but that I should hear by the end of May.
In June I rang again. Again he called me back, saying that they were still going through the backlog and I should hear by the end of June. In mid-July I was told that Faith Dakin was reading my ms at that very moment and that the report should be ready by mid-August. Malcolm Scott was most apologetic and told me how embarrassed the agency was by the delay.
In October I contacted them again and requested to speak to Faith Dakin to see if she was at all interested in representing my work. After a week Malcolm Scott finally called back. Not possible, I was politely told, but he'd chivvy her up. We had quite a long conversation at this point and I learned much about the agency's aims and also Malcolm Scott's own publishing ambitions, but nothing about my work. He even told me about the many other calls he was receiving from aggrieved writers complaining about the delay and accusing the agency of running a scam. He refuted this by saying if it was a scam, would he be answering all these irate calls?
After this fruitless conversation I read the extract from his book which was posted on the Abbey Agency website. He'd written it under a pseudonym and had I known at the beginning that it was his work, I'd have thought twice about submitting! I was seriously unimpressed.

So by now the agency had had my money for a whole year and I knew I'd never see it, my ms, or the supposed report again. I did ring them once more, after the Christmas break, to demand my money back, but now the phone numbers didn't work. It was hardly surprising. I did manage to get access to their website once more, before that, too, was shut down, and I sent a strongly-worded email of complaint, which I also knew would get me nowhere. It did allow me to let off some steam, though.

So I kissed my money goodbye and put the whole sorry episode down to experience. It was my own silly fault, I should have taken heed of the warnings and not let my ego be stroked by an impersonal letter. I sincerely hope the pair of them are now out of the publishing business but I still keep a wary eye out for either of their names. So the moral of this tale is; when those in the know tell you never to submit to agencies which charge a reading fee - THEY MEAN WHAT THEY SAY!!