TOM was released in fairly rushed fashion, as was TGS if memory serves. It may be that Tor was constrained by the desire to get the book(s) out as quickly as possible in scheduling the release of pre-book material so close to the pub dates. Put another way, it may have been that Tor would have preferred to have the kind of three-month lead-up that an October 2 release date would have allowed than the rush job the last two books required.

By way of comparison, Tor began publishing the prologue and sample chapters from The Way of Kings on June 10, 2010 and published the book itself on August 31, a little shy of three months later.

Having said that, this comparison leaves us with no explanation for why Chapter 1 of AMOL was released so soon after the prologue and why the chapter included no release date for the book.

For comparison's sake, does anyone remember how far from the release date the WH or COT prologues and sample chapters were released?