Hearts 'n Tummies - Quixote Press

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Bruce Carlson initially got into writing by finishing a family tree book for which his father had collected information. He spent 3 ½ years interviewing people and collecting stories and pictures for that. In so doing, he had people telling him many stories about things they couldn’t explain, so ghost stories entered the picture. At that time he was working as a chemist and engineer at Sheaffer Pen Company in Fort Madison, Iowa. 

Then, in 1987, Quixote Press (named after Don Quixote, that sort of nutsy self-proclaimed knight of medieval Spain) was started by Bruce and Marilyn Carlson with the publication of Ghosts of Lee County and Ghosts of Des Moines County, both written by Bruce. 

The thinking at that time was it was more fun to write than spend time and effort finding a publisher, so it made sense to simply form their own publishing company. 

The first book written by an author outside the Carlson family was How to Talk Midwestern and about this time, the Carlsons wrote and published two cookbooks – Flat Out Dirt Cheap Cooking and I Got Funner Things to Do Than Cookin’ Cookbook.

Bruce Carlson operated the company with Marilyn helping evenings, weekends and summer vacations, buying printing services with her teacher’s salary. Bruce did a lot of traveling at this time, developing a customer base and collecting more ghost stories. He was also collecting stories for roadkill cookbooks and ladies-of-the-evening books. 

Meanwhile the Carlson’s daughter, Lisa Nafziger, came to work for the company doing secretarial work and additional market development. During this time, the Carlsons had gotten strongly into cookbooks, which they marketed to gift shops, especially in museums and state welcome centers. 

The pace picked up in 1996 when Marilyn retired from teaching and worked full time for the company. It was about that same time another avenue for their books was discovered. Produce stands, orchards and berry patches were excellent places to sell cookbooks, especially books that dealt with the products regional farmers raised. The Carlsons captured the market and eventually found themselves the #1 supplier of printed materials to farm stands across the U.S.

Out of the sales to farm stands grew the practice of providing customers with a personalized version of the cookbooks that could feature a photo of their farm or their product on the cover. 

An important element of the Carlsons’ adventure into cookbooks appropriate for farm stands was having a booth at trade shows of the farm stand industry. They attended such shows all over the nation for a number of years. 

They have, through 38 years of business, occupied a number of locations, the most recent being Wever, Iowa’s old grain elevator which the Carlsons bought in 2005. 

In February of 2025, Quixote Press was sold to Sheri Hartkemeyer. With 42 years in the printing business, including management and owning/operating a growing publishing company, Sheri felt it was a natural choice to continue the legacy of Quixote Press. 

Our goal is to stay on the cutting edge of helping our customers grow their businesses by providing hundreds of options with our book titles and myriad of topics. We will continue to offer “vintage” cookbook covers, as well as new “modern” covers, allowing our customers to choose which look would best sell at their gift shop, museum or produce business. Or, if they prefer, we can customize the cover for their specific business. We look forward to continuing the dream envisioned by the Carlsons so many years ago!