Dumb Question about Products

Just like the title says. I have a dumb question about products. I'm still on the big guru kick, I guess. So here's the question.

When a person copyrights their product. Say an e-book for instance; is the method in the ebook copyright or just the words written in the ebook?

Hope this makes sense.LOL- at least I know what I mean.

The reason I ask is because of re-hashed products. It would seem the method is not copyrighted, only the way the "work" is written.

Anybody know for sure?