Terrified by the inexorable process of disintermediation (the establishment
of direct contact between author and readers, excluding publishers and
bookstores) and by the ease with which digital content can be replicated -
publishers resorted to draconian copyright protection measures
(euphemistically known as "digital rights management").  This further
alienated the few potential readers left.  The opposite model of "viral" or
"buzz" marketing (by encouraging the dissemination of free copies of the
promoted book) was only marginally more successful. 

Moreover, e-publishing's delivery platform, the Internet, has been
transformed beyond recognition since March 2000. 

From an open, somewhat anarchic, web of networked computers - it has
evolved into a territorial, commercial, corporate extension of "brick and
mortar" giants, subject to government regulation.  It is less friendly
towards independent (small) publishers, the backbone of e-publishing. 
Increasingly, it is expropriated by publishing and media behemoths.  It is
treated as a medium for cross promotion, supply chain management, and
customer relations management.  It offers only some minor synergies
with non-cyberspace, real world, franchises and media properties.  The likes