publishing modules - long delay due to large image count

It takes me about 45 minutes to publish my two largest modules - they have 2-4 questions banks (with 8-12 questions each) and maybe 14 images in each module, so pretty minimal, plus icons for Knowledge Checks and certificates.

I'm hoping to get help on:

1.how to publish faster
2. I'm not sure how I have 1997 images - what counts as an image?

see attached image

Thanks in advance-