The software I used is Photoshop 5.5, Acrobat 5, and ABBYY FineReader Demo
(I have just uploaded a HOWTO for getting unlimited usage - grab the demo
itself from http://www.abbyy.com/download/index.htm).

For scanning I used 600 DPI B&W (-NOT- grayscale) for the text, 300 DPI
grayscale for the images, and 300 DPI true color for the front/back covers.

For the OCR, it is important to -NOT- have FineReader autodetect the page layout.
Draw the boxes and define the tables yourself, or you'll have a lot of garbage
you'll need to cut out. Export as PDF so it comes out in (as close as possible to)
the correct formatting. You will need to clean up some of the spelling, and look
for problems with its word-recognition (like assuming the word "orc" is supposed
to be "ore"). Also, the formatting needs to be realigned sometimes, and weird
spacing errors corrected (which is, quite frankly, a bitch to do in Acrobat - one
hint, though: text justification is your friend). An additional concern is that
FineReader does not use the correct fonts when it exports, so if you want to use
Vitrol or Pterra fonts, you have to change them in the PDF after it is exported.

As far as the images go, I crop them down as close as possible, but am sure to
leave about 5-10 pixels on the edges to try avoid the distortion JPGs get on
the edges sometimes. Next, clean the image up using Photoshop's Levels and/or
Brightness/Contrast controls. Use the Rubber Stamp tool to clean up any problems
in the image. Then, you blur, change the image to 150 DPI, and save as a JPG
with quality of 0-3 (on Photoshop's 0-12 scale), depending on what looks best
for the filesize (5 scan progressive images are usually the smallest, but 3 or 4
scan and Baseline Optimized are sometimes smaller).

For any images that are used repeatedly, such as page backgrounds and icons, be
sure to use the EXACT SAME IMAGE every time - this helps keep the filesize low
as it only needs to store the image once (if you used a different scan of the
background on every page, it would need to store an image of each, since the
graphics are not identical).
An even better option for the backgrounds is to make a template with dummy page
numbers (which you correct when you add pages tothe file), and the folio for the
chapter you're working on. Just drag-and-drop to add pages to your document.

I have also uploaded an archive with copies my templates so you can see some
examples of what I mean.

That's the basics of what I've figured out, anyway. If there's anything else in
particular you need to know, ask and I shall see if I can answer you.

...Pope Cerebus...