Not everyone is familiar with ebooks.  Five years ago, I myself didn't know anything about them.  I thought that the only books worth buying were in bookstores.  I actually thought the term "ebook" referred to an electronic version of a print book, meant to be read on Kindle or something.

I was wrong.

What is an eBook?

There's a massive appetite for ebooks online, but no one's looking for Stephen King's latest short story or a Nora Roberts novel to read in digital format.

Instead, most ebooks are non-fiction.

They tend to be "how to" books about how to solve a problem, like how to get over panic attacks or how to date more women or how to stop a cat from scratching the furniture.

These ebooks are "book-length" texts - although the length varies considerably - written by an average person who's not a professional writer but is an expert in something.  (Or, at least, the author considers him/herself an expert.  More on that later.)

Because this person feels that they'd never get published by traditional print media, they decide to self-publish in electronic format and give away all their secrets.

Their motive is ostensibly altruistic: they want to pass on tips that have worked for them, in the hope that their "secrets" will help others.

So they write a book-length manuscript on a word processor and have it converted into a PDF document, which they put up on a website and try to sell.

To buy the book, customers must use a credit card or PayPal.  Good vendors sell their ebooks over third party payment processors, like Clickbank.  All transactions are usually paperless.

Once the payment is processed, the customer is immediately given a link to download the PDF file, which they can read on their computer using Adobe Acrobat Reader or print, depending on their preference.

Are eBooks Any Good?

That depends on what you're looking for.  If you're looking for a solid piece of research written by a Ph.D. with several pages of references in the back, you're out of luck.  Most ebooks represent their author's personal opinions and experiences - nothing more.

If you're looking for error-free writing, no spelling mistakes or wonky grammar, then you'll be disappointed. There's a reason ebooks are published online rather than offline. That's because, in most cases, no publisher would touch them. They're simply not "good enough" by publishing standards.

But, with that out of the way, there are some very good things going for ebooks.

Politically, they represent empowerment of the people and subversion of the system. Or, in simpler terms:

Why should we only get to read what publishers pick for us?

Aren't there tons of people out there with valuable ideas that we could benefit from?

Why should an expert in, say, training dogs ALSO have to be an expert writer in order to pass onto us the benefit of his/her knowledge?

Maybe we want to hear from people that the publishing world has passed over.  Maybe there's a lot of useful information out there that, until now, has only been passed on by word of mouth.  Maybe self-publishing empowers real-life experts to share what they know with us, without fear that they will be judged for their writing rather than their ideas.

At their best, ebooks give us inside tips that real experts know, tips that will never become public because the expert isn't a "good enough" writer to interest a publisher.

Are eBooks Legit?

Here's where it gets tricky.  Some ebooks are legitimately written by experts in their fields who had a desire to write a book and opted for the self-publishing route.  Some.

As ecommerce has exploded, more and more internet entrepreneur are hiring writers (or "e-lancers") to research a field and then write a book about it, posing as an expert.

The notion is that a good writer can write about anything, and that anyone can become an expert quickly if they do the research.

The reason these companies do this because there's money to be made in selling answers to problems.  People who are desperate will pay any sort of money for a "miracle cure."  The sales pitches for ebooks tend to be full of hype and promise the moon.

Do these commissioned ebooks really deliver the results they promise?  Some of them probably do.  It's hard to know before you buy.

So Should I Even Bother?

You may give up on the thought of buying an ebook right there and then, but there's one reason that you shouldn't cross ebooks off your list completely.

You can buy most ebooks with no risk whatsoever.

Nearly all ebooks sold by reputable third party payment processors (like Clickbank) include a moneyback guarantee, and they have to refund your money if the product does not meet your expectations.

(And if you find that the vendor is giving you problems, you can go straight to the third party payment processor and demand a refund directly.)

The refund policy is there for a reason:

Unlike a physical product that you can look at and touch in a store, you can't see an ebook.  You have no idea what you're getting until you get it.  The vendor can do his/her best to describe the product, but you may get a different idea altogether to what the vendor intended.

So the refund policy is like the vendor's way of giving you a chance to "pick up and hold" his/her product.  If you want to put it back, that's fine.  If you want to keep it, even better.

My Recommendations

Whenever I recommend an ebook on this website, I've done so because I have personal experience of the product.

Either I've read the ebook myself, or I personally know the person who wrote it.

But you should always keep in mind that my recommendations are my opinions. You may not like the same things I like, and that's okay.

If you follow any of my recommendations and feel that the product isn't "up to snuff," don't get mad at me.  Instead, ask for a refund!  Almost all ebooks offer a moneyback guarantee that they MUST honor.

There's nothing shameful or wrong about asking for your money back.  As I said before, you didn't get to see the product before you bought it, and that's what the moneyback guarantee accounts for.

So go ahead and check out my recommended ebooks.  Who knows, they might even convert you into an online reader!  You'll be ahead of the pack when the bookstores start selling Kindles...