By an unfathomable stroke of luck, My Fair Concubine was nominated in the Category Romance division of the annual DABWAHA contest (Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors according to the site), a joint event between the Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books sites.

This is Romancelandia’s version of March Madness. In the past, I’ve always had fun cheering for my favorites, but this year I find myself actually in the game. I’m so honored by the nomination that I feel I must at least give a respectable showing, so here’s my “Ten Reasons to Vote for My Fair Concubine in DABWAHA”, starting with number 10:

10. I remembered to say “Please.” Pretty please, with a cherry on top and little rainbow sprinkles, please vote for me.

9. Hot damn, wouldn’t it be awesome for My Fair Concubine to move up the bracket? It’s a romance set in the Tang frickin’ Dynasty! And isn’t it nice that some Asian cover models are getting some work? (Speaking of Hot Damn and cover models, more to come…)

8. I looked up on Google translate how to say “Game on!” in Chinese. Or, at least it says “Game!” Actually, the first character supposedly is “swim” and the second is “play”, but I guess put together, they mean “Game on!” or maybe “Swim play!”

博弈!

7. Did you know My Fair Concubine was revised while I was laid up in the hospital and pregnant with twins? I know, I know. Plenty of women work and write while pregnant or while taking care of small children and dealing with mommy brain. None of them get an award for it, but they should, don’t you think?

8. There are Vote for Jeannie T-shirts already available. Umm…there’s also a “Vote for Jeannie” thong. Why?!?

7. New York Times Bestseller, Amazon top #100, the RITA Award–I covet the DABWAHA title more than all those paltry accolades. I take this competition seriously.

6. Because this cat won’t go down without a fight.

5. Celebrity endorsements! I’m in talks with some megastars who have agreed to come out and support My Fair Concubine if I can prove myself in the first rounds. Don’t you want to find out who? 🙂

4. There is no end to my insanity. MWAHAHA!!!

3. Cover model hawtness. Kimberly Killion from HotDamn Designs has promised some cover model action if My Fair Concubine makes the second round of voting. What will the cover models be doing, you ask? Here’s a video teaser:

2. I asked the Magic 8 ball, and this is what it said:

And last, but not least…

1. Imagine all the brackets that would be messed up every time MY FAIR CONCUBINE won. *wink*

Vote for MY FAIR CONCUBINE by Jeannie Lin on Thursday, March 21! Voting starts after noon. You don’t need to sign up to vote and you can vote multiple times from different IP addresses–work, home, Starbucks.  You don’t even need to know what the heck DABWAHA is.

If you’d like a reminder, sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar for information about releases, events and giveaways.

I really hope I can count on your support on Thursday! I’ll need all the help I can get to get to Round 2…and don’t you want to see the romance novel version of the Harlem Shake?