Where We've Been: The Big News At ZRecs

We're figuring that by now some of our readers are wondering about our silence over the past few days. Each day we've thought we'd be ready with a review the next, but each day we've been wrong. The reason, though, is one we've been very excited to announce to our readers.

We're getting ready to launch a network of the same high-quality, content-driven blogs you've come to expect from ZRecs. Beginning in early September, the ZRecs network will consist of the following blogs:

The Tranquil Parent is a solutions-driven blog designed to answer a question we've been asking ourselves ever since we started doing consumer reporting on Z Recommends:

How can parents be well-informed without ratcheting up the stress? How can we get the information we need to make good decisions without going off the deep end?

Most importantly, how can parents committed to a relaxed, healthy approach to life maintain that way of life without having to give up on staying informed?

The Tranquil Parent's mission is to help families be safer, healthier, greener, and happier. We'll take the anxiety out of everything parents have to be anxious about, and offer easy ways for you to be both informed and confident that you are acting on information and advice that's as solid as what we bring you on Z Recommends. Imagine a blog that keeps you informed about issues that affect your family but makes you feel powerful instead of powerless, and you'll have a good idea of what we're after. [Sign up in advance! RSS/email]

Polliwogged will be a new baby blog from ZRecs in a tumblog format, offering quick tips, no-nonsense product assessments based on hands-on testing, exclusive discount codes and offers from brands and retailers we like, and links to great baby-related content we find online. Our goal is to offer a baby blog that is fast, fun, useful, and inspiring! [Sign up in advance! RSS/email]

Punnybop is a new kids' media blog with a daily kids' book, DVD, or music recommendation, a music or video embed, or a shoutout to a new kids' media gadget or related product to check out. This is a blog for parents and kids who want to improve the quality of their media consumption, for those who just can't be plugged in enough to great creative works for children that their parents can stand behind, or for those who like some cheap entertainment with their morning coffee. [Sign up in advance! RSS/email]

For our current blogs, expect the following:

PRIZEY: A slick, overhauled version of everyone's favorite giveaway hub with a few new features power users have been asking for and better integration so readers of our other blogs will see links to current giveaways related to our non-giveaway posting.

Gardenaut: The same great home gardening blog with daily posts, recipes, links to gardening-related content in major media outlets, and more, redesigned with better drill-down navigation to help readers find tips for their own gardening projects.

Z Recommends: A fully redesigned product review and parenting blog with the same daily reviews, parenting essays, consumer reporting, and links to great content elsewhere, wrapped in a pretty new package and some new features.

We'll be moving off Blogger to some spankin' new server space on a custom blogging platform, but subscribers to current feeds don't need to do anything to keep getting content from our current blogs.

If you'd like to start getting content from any of our new blogs as soon as they go up, you can sign up now for RSS or email delivery and you'll start getting posts as soon as we go live. Right now you'll be signing up for the "ZRecs Network Holding Pen," but each feed will be rerouted separately when we go live.

Sign up below to start getting these blogs as soon as they begin publication:

• The Tranquil Parent [RSS/email]
• Polliwogged [RSS/email]
• Punnybop [RSS/email]

One last thing: Launching along with our new network is a new consumer tool for parents. We're really excited about it but are going to save that news for another post.

Over the coming weeks as we prepare for our new network's launch, we'll continue to post reviews and commentary here on Z Recommends as well as some opportunities for bloggers who'd like to contribute to one of our new blogs.

Thanks to all of you for reading Z Recommends, PRIZEY, or Gardenaut, doing your Amazon shopping through our Amazon.com links and search box, and supporting our advertisers - it's what makes all of this possible!