These facts might shock Americans less than Britons because in the States most books of *any* kind don't make money. And here you'd have More reason to expect to lose money with a hybrid firm because:

1) Hybrid publishers often take a higher percent of what you earn (say, 50% as opposed to 10-15% of the cover price).

2) They may expect you to shell out thousands of dollars up front for things like editing, ISBN registration, and design fees (and some scams have had a lot of publicity, so they may be better known).

But your broad point and its subtexts also apply in the U.S.: Too many authors go into hybrid deals without knowing enough about them. You need to do a lot of research to avoid a serious disappointment.