Not to mention they are bound by contract to publish them...


"Power" is very relative. Tor obviously has opinions on what's best for the series, and so does Harriet, and as far we know, there's a lot of respect of each other involved in this.

Unlike what they do with other writers (including Brandon for his own books), TOR buys the finished WOT books from RJ (now from Harriet, but the contract's the same). Several things are mostly under their control, like marketing, publishing schedule once they get the book, cover art and so on, but they don't have much of a say at all about the book's content, when they get it, how long it is and so on. Not for WOT. It's no doubt WOT's success that made him able to negotiate all this. That was all up to RJ. In RJ's time, after he slowed down with his writing by the mid-series (he needed more time to plan the books, etc.), Tor would definitely have liked to keep releasing a WOT book every year or year and a half (pleasing their customers matter to a publisher and all that), RJ himself said so at some point - and this pressured RJ to find ways to accelerate his process and aim for a maximum of two years between books, but it was Tor's desires RJ took into account, not an imposed deadline from his publisher. He got set deadlines from TOR only once he finished writing a book. That's when TOR set in motion the publishing process and "squeezed" Harriet and RJ a bit with the editing phase, to get the final manuscript as fast as they could. After COT, RJ decided this didn't work for him anymore, and told TOR from now on he would have again his full sixth month editing cycle after he was finished writing. He wasn't asking, he just told them he no longer agreed to rush it to get the books out faster, as soon as he wrote them.

It's still much the same with Harriet at the helm.

A good thing to know/remember is that Harriet, RJ and Doherty hd more than a strictly professional relationship. They were also personal friends, and this went way back. Harriet has worked many years for Tor before moving back south, had left Baen with Doherty and been with him when he founded his own house, and occupied a fairly senior position there from day one. She was part of the small inner circle who built Tor with him... It's been said too that RJ had a rather exceptional, extremely friendly and trusting relationship with his publisher. All that's happening has to be seen in this light. Harriet herself said there was absolutely no pressure from Tor regarding a deadline for AMOL, not even for her to make a decision whether she would or not publish it. It was all up to her. Brandon once said Doherty was actually surprised by how fast she wanted to move after RJ's death. It's really more a matter of Tor supporting Harriet's decisions in these matters, definitely not one of Tor pressuring her (of course, the publishing deadlines once Harriet gives them a delivery date for the manuscript still exist and all).

So yeah, the deadlines are all pretty much up to Harriet and Brandon.