PW: Scholastic, LucasFilm Create Imprint

In the latest partnership between Hollywood and children's publishing, LucasFilm and Scholastic have teamed up to form an imprint called Lucasbooks and announced that the inaugural six-book series will be called the Seventh Tower.

Rather than operate under a licensing deal, books in the series will be developed jointly between the studio and press. The two will also work closely on content, distribution and marketing, according to Scholastic. A jointly created Web site, www.theseventhtower.com, is also in the works.

The first title, The Fall by Garth Nix, is slated for June. It will be aimed at the 8- to 12-year-old market. Scholastic promises "very involved marketing" for the series, which will see a new book released every three months.

Meanwhile, an astounding number of pre-orders for the fourth Harry Potter title (tentatively titled Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, with a planned July 8 release) has earned the book the number-one spot on Amazon.com's Hot 100 list, where it has hovered in the top five for the past two weeks. Given the demand, Scholastic is estimating a first- printing of well over a million copies.