As the first professional American author, Brown was known for his Gothic novels, especially Wieland (1798), Arthur Mervyn (1799), Ormond (1799), Edgar Huntly (1799), and Memoirs of Carwin, the Biloquist (1803–1805). Brown edited or operated a number of periodicals during his life, including the Monthly Magazine, and American Review (1799-1800), renamed the American Review, and Literary Journal (1801-1802); the Literary Magazine, and American Register (1803-1807); and the American Register, or General Repository of History, Politics, and Science (1807-1809).