The homogenization of literature is not really the publishers' fault. It's not even really the big bookstores' fault. It is, at least in part, the fault of the Law of Unintended Consequences, stemming from a Supreme Court decision "Thor Power Tool Company vs. IRS Commissioner."
http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/thor.htm
I'm sure technological and social change factors in there too. Anyway, the occasional discussions on self-publishing that I've seen indicate that getting a good editor (and cover artist) are MUSTS if you want to be successful at self-publishing, and self-publishing takes a lot of work. Unlike the music industry, artists in the book industry receive significant value from their publishers and don't tend to view them as antagonists.
Enough OT for me today...
-Max