Shared World E-Shorts and Published Novel

[JohnDurvin]

Sorry if the title's a little compacted, but I had to fit it all in there...I've got this idea that I'd like to run by everybody.

For a while now, I've been world-building for a series of YA novels that are essentially fantasy, but based on American folklore instead of European--robber barons instead of evil kings, giant lumberjacks instead of dragons, that kind of thing. A lot of people have told me it sounds like a cool concept, but since I haven't even started writing the books, I know it's going to be a while before I can start querying agents.

So what I've been thinking is that maybe there are a few smaller stories I could tell (and hopefully sell) while the longer series is being written. The best-case scenario is that they will do well enough that when I start querying agents about the series, I can point to several successful short stories that have been e-published as evidence of people liking the concept. My current plan is to e-publish the short stories on SmashWords (unless somebody has a better idea), although my girlfriend as a co-worker that has gotten some poetry published and now she's convinced that I should try and get the shorts published in magazines or something. Anybody have an opinion on that? Or, heck, can I do both--e-pub unless it's picked up by an agent, in which case I take it down?