His mother, Colleen Birdnow Brown, was the President and CEO of Fisher Communications and the Chairman of American Apparel's Board of Directors.

[4] Brown was working for the NBC Page Program in Burbank, California and living in his former political science professor's garage when he sold Red Rising in 2012.

[3] Red Rising, published in 2014, received widespread positive reviews,[7][8][9] and hit #20 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

[11] In 2016, Morning Star reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in Adult Hardcover, Digital Book and cumulative.

[13] In February 2014, shortly after the release of Red Rising, Universal Pictures acquired the rights for a film adaptation in a seven -figure auction.

[19][20] Brown confirmed in October 2018 that the project had a director and a showrunner, and added that the film rights had also been resold to an unspecified studio.

In June 2021 the Red Rising saga had sold over 2 million copies in the US Alone,[24] with Brown having announced this on his official Instagram account.

"[27] Kirkus Reviews called the third installment, Morning Star, "multilayered and seething with characters who exist in a shadow world between history and myth, much as in Frank Herbert's Dune ... an ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga".