There's no doubt that in the last few years, there's been a storm of electronic publications hitting the Internet. These electronic books or eBooks have grown with such popularity, that there's been an influx of eBook libraries & stores let along traditional publishers switching to digital print because of easier distribution.

With thousands of different eBook topics on the market, health & fitness eBooks have surged in popularity alongside self-help and get rich publications.

The popularity of fitness eBooks has emerged from the demand of fitness enthusiasts using the Internet. But it's not just these hardcore fitness goers that are taking advantage of digital advice, many newcomers with specific goals in mind such as weight loss or better eating habits are exploring the net as we speak to purchase eBooks.

Before discussing more about eBooks with regards to fitness, let's go over the basics of an eBook in case this is all new to you. If you know exactly what an eBook is, feel free to skip to the next section.

Basically, an eBook is a electronic book - a book that you can read on your computer. It's NOT a physical book. We've had a few people order our eBooks and received an email from them a few weeks later inquiring into why it hasn’t arrived in their mailbox!

An eBook is downloaded from the Internet to your computer as a file. Once this file has been downloaded, you can store it permanently on your computer and access it anytime you want. All you need to do is double click on the eBook file and you'll be able to view the contents. 

Most eBooks come available in Adobe acrobat format where you see a pretty good reproduction of a real book. Including cover, figures, charts, tables, table of contents, etc.

An eBook can also be printed easily from your home computer. If your printer is of sufficient quality, you can print a professional eBook and store it into a binder if you don't want to read material from your computer.

eBooks have proven very popular over the last few years because of the ability to download and view book quality information instantly.

We often get questions from individuals seeking reasons why publications aren't in the form of a traditional book, or propositions from hawkers claiming they can make us millionaires if we let them have the rights to publish our book.

We'll there have always been the temptation to sell a physical book but yet again, there are advantages for our eBook readers who are probably reading this article as we speak.

Here are 12 advantages of eBooks in general:

• They're convenient — if you just need a page or two “on paper” from a book — for example, a recipe from a cookbook, or a procedure from a fitness manual all you need to do is click print from your computer

• Excellent for research and reference — Print out an eBook on 2 or 3-hole paper and put it in a ring binder. This is a much more convenient format than a regular bound book if you may want to write in it and take notes, or perhaps carry just a chapter or two at a time with you.

• In Adobe pdf format (Maximum Fitness eBooks) you see a pretty good reproduction of a real book. Including cover, figures, charts, tables, table of contents, etc.

• You can easily customize the viewing experience (enlarge font size and style, change orientation on device, modify screen contrast)

• If your computer is a laptop or PDA, then your ebooks are portable. You can travel light; your entire library of ebooks is portable. Much easier than lugging around a stack of printed books.

• You can acquire thousands of eBooks almost instantly via the Internet without spending time browsing book stores with their limited titles

• Clicking is easier than page turning as you may have already discovered.

• You can easily add multiple bookmarks and they stay where you put them

• One click from the table of contents can lead you straight to chapters

• Soon you will be able to have your eBook to you by your computer!

• Popularity - Many recent titles are being published as eBooks only

• They're easy on the environment - they save trees and paper

For those eBook junkies out there on the net, they have caught on to the fact seeking advice from an eBook can be just as or even more effective compared to purchasing a book from your local store.

When you purchase a book, you've got the information in one hit and that's it! If you like the book and you're eager to feed on more advice from the author you'll either have to join the fan club or wait until the author's next publication is released.

However, on the net it's a little different. For instance, many authors are offering online coaching with the purchase of an eBook. In the case of Maximum Fitness, you don't only purchase an eBook but you can have access to ongoing communications and advice from the author himself.

"Who better to talk to about the book than the actual author who wrote it?"

A word of caution there are those who feel it's necessary to release a "Bible" containing pages upon pages of material. When you're reading through some of these eBooks it's like the author has dumped ALL knowledge throughout their entire life to please the general population.

While these authors like to prove that they know the most "You're getting everything we think you should know" in this eBook... they neglect the single most important question - Who wants to read 500 PAGE book on their computer screen!

Unless you're looking for fiction, most if not ALL eBooks should be relatively short and to the point (around 100 pages). This is what people are after, predominantly when it comes to self-help info such as how to lose weight or improve your fitness.

A concise, step-by-step eBook will go a long way towards motivating someone to improve their lifestyle or fitness habits than a dictionary full of content based on "you can do this, you can do that" type of fluff talk.

When purchasing an eBook, keep this thought in mind:

"It's not about the quantity of content that counts, it's the quality of content and how you can go about using that content"

Make no mistake about it, when you purchase any type of material, you want to know that the information you're getting is as accurate as possible towards the goal you’re aiming to achieve.

Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit http://www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight loss or muscle building e-courses.