Self-publishing

 Are you writing your memoir?  Do you plan to include pictures?   Recently, I self-published my memoir and during the time between turning in my manuscript to the printer and approving the final proof, I had sleepless nights over the photographs placed in the book.  I was continually notified that many of my photographs were of low resolution.  Especially the color photos that were decades old and faded.  To me, the original photographs I held in my hand looked fine- - but digitally they were a disaster.  Some of my photos were nearly 100 years old, so I took pictures with my iPhone, but found out that even though they looked great on the iPhone, the resolution was far below the 300 dpi required for the printed book.  I tried everything.  Scanning the photos with my fax/scan/printer.  That didn't work at all.  Very grainy.  More notices from the printer.  I went outside in natural light and took pictures of the pictures with my camera.  That gave me 300 dpi and enough to get the book finalized and printed.  BUT - - when I received the actual printed book, the pictures were not as good as I had hoped for, but I accepted the fact that I did the best I could with the knowledge I had.   

Now, for the next book, I am ready.  A good friend introduced me to her photo scanner -- - I had never seen or used one - - and voila!  What a difference.  I immediately purchased one just like hers.  I'm not an influencer on YouTube, of course, but I will tell you that the Canon Image Formula RS40 is amazing.  Easy to use, doesn't take up a lot of space on the desk (about one square foot) and produces beautiful results.  OH!  If I had only known!