From the publisher's perspective, a good book is a book that sells. From the reader's perspective, a good book is a book that they want to buy. The motivations are complimentary, even if they produce a market full of dreck. It is also the way it should be, since a market full of literary masterpieces is going to cater to the interests of so few people that books will be sitting on the shelves collecting dust rather than reaching the hands of reader.

That being said, there are publishers/imprints that cater to readers with more refined tastes. Go for those publishers if the mainstream publishers aren't producing quality material (in your opinion). And yes, feel free to wade through that minefield that is self-publishing. Just don't expect the stigma of indies to go away because indies include anyone: from the hideous to the beautiful. I realise that this attitude is incredibly unfair to the great independent authors, but independent authors also have to accept that most of their peers are independent because they cannot publish any other way.

This is something that publishers do at their own peril, since it is far easier to gain a reputation for low quality products than high quality products.