Following his discharge from navy service, he went to work as a nuclear engineer but later on changed careers and entered the publishing field; Brown became a full-time science fiction editor with Locus in 1975.

[1] Along with Ed Meskys and Dave Vanderwerf, Charles N. Brown founded Locus in 1968 as a news fanzine to promote a bid to host the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston.

Originally intended to run only until the site-selection vote was taken at St. Louiscon, the 1969 Worldcon in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing Locus as a general science fiction and fantasy news fanzine.

[2] The following year at the 29th Worldcon, the first Noreascon that Locus was founded to promote and support, Brown's news fanzine won its first of a record 29 Hugo Awards (as of 2008).

In accordance with established Worldcon tradition, he was retained as a guest of honor in memory of his longtime contributions to the science fiction field.