Completely agree with Falen1. In this day and age agents don't need to be in NY. Go to any conference and listen to editors and agents and you will hear the same thing repeated again and again. You need to find an agent that has good contacts with a variety of publishers and that is just as easy for an agent to establish from the Midwest as it is by working down the block.

I have a full with her right now and have been more than happy with Ms. Goloboy's communications.

Umm, there are plenty of fantastic agents who aren't in NY.

Kristin Nelson Lit Agency
Parts of Curtis Brown
Parts of Foundry Literary + Media

Those are just the few that come to mind and they're well established, successful agencies and agents.

And 5 months for a partial is not all that unheard of, unfortunately. It sounds to me you're angry that you didn't do enough research, queried an agent who wasn't a good fit for what you're looking for, and then was mad about how long it took her to read your partial. Just because your personal experience made you unhappy, it doesn't mean she's a crap agent. Anecdotes don't equal facts

Anderson Cooper's devoted several of his programs to the tornado. Would you like to have him as your agent too? Maybe if she'd stop going to conferences (which are $ makers for agents) and started reading her response time would be quicker. Obviously, they're a small shop and don't seem to have any interns....I guess that's because people who will work for free to become agents go to LA or New York not the Midwest. How do I know? I used to be an editor, and this will be my last posting about an agent I really don't care about.

One thing I do have to say though: I haven't got a response from her yet, but through twitter she's the only agent who was down at the OWFI conference that said anything about the tornado that recently hit Moore. She specifically said she was glad I was okay and that she was worried about the other OWFI attendees. Even if she doesn't become my agent, I will have nothing but good things to say about her. She may not be in NY, but she's impressed me.

Hi Chaotic Dreamer

She took nearly five months to reject a three chapter partial....some agents request that amount with the query letter. Plus, she's in MN. Always try to focus on NYC agents who network with editors. I submitted mine w/o checking the address which I usually do.