How to Create a Great Book Unboxing Video
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If you’ve spent any amount of time casually exploring YouTube in recent years, you’ve likely encountered an unboxing video—part of a massively popular category of video content that consistently tops the streaming platform’s trending charts.
For those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, here’s how it works: unboxing videos feature a person who opens up a (usually sealed) box and unpacks anything from the latest iPhone or gadget to Disney toys or Vietnam-era MRE food rations for their audience. Odd as it may seem, these videos can earn millions of views and seven-figure incomes for some of their creators!
All it takes to film an unboxing video is a camera and a box of something special, opened with a bit of personality. With that in mind, opening the box containing your books for the first time presents a unique opportunity for creating this engaging type of content. What’s found inside the box isn’t something you’ve just purchased from Amazon or an obscure military surplus shop, but rather something you’ve created entirely your own. It’s a powerful moment that culminates into an emotional crescendo after a lengthy writing and publishing process.
Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, holding your book for the first time marks an important moment as an author. Unboxing isn’t just a meaningful moment for yourself as the author; others can see and feel the joy you experience in that surprising instant of finally seeing “the real thing.”
Capturing and sharing this moment on social media marks a unique opportunity for building excitement for your book launch, and it further establishes your author brand by connecting with readers and others in the book community on an emotional level. The magical moment of experiencing your book is something that people can really feel through the screen, and it has the capacity to create plenty of social media engagement.
If you’re worrying about creating a slick and professional video: don’t. A great unboxing is simply about sharing the experience with your community and capturing the raw emotion of the moment. The great thing about unboxing videos is how easy they are to set up, shoot, and post. It doesn’t require a lot of time or fancy equipment to make it happen, which likely contributes to why these videos are so prevalent and popular.
Here’s a guide to help you create (and post) a great book unboxing video of your very own:
The Setup
First things first: you must muster the willpower needed to NOT open that tempting box containing your books as soon as it arrives at your doorstep. We know how hard this is, but it’s worth the wait. No peeking!
The next thing you need to sort out is what you’ll use to shoot the actual video—and it can really be as simple as grabbing the phone from your pocket. You can accomplish a great many things with just a smartphone camera, and many Hollywood filmmakers agree. Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh filmed High Flying Bird and Unsane exclusively on an iPhone.
The video quality doesn’t need to be ultra high-definition; an excess of clarity is lost on the human eye. You just want to make sure that your video’s resolution doesn’t distract from the content. Just about everybody has a smartphone these days, or at the very least knows someone with the latest hardware. The smartphone also lends itself to the casual style of these types of videos, and makes it really easy to upload directly to YouTube, Instagram, or wherever else you want it seen.
The other important consideration is the location in which you’re going to film. This plays a significant role because it influences three aspects of your video you’ll want to get right:
Audio Quality: You’ll want to film in a quiet environment to avoid unnecessary noises like a barking dog or your neighbour’s roaring lawn mower outside. You could attach an inexpensive microphone to capture clearer sound (depending on the camera you use), but it’s likely not necessary even for smartphones.
Lighting: All you really need is a well-lit environment (a kitchen table might do), avoiding any background distractions that could detract from the moment at hand. If it’s a nice sunny day and you have wide open windows, that brilliant light could wash out the image. Inversely, a dimly lit room could equally overshadow your reaction.
Framing: You can frame the video in pretty much any way you want whether that’s a medium shot from the waist up or a shot of you further back in a chair with the box so everything is displayed at once. It’ll work in a variety of ways so long as you clearly capture your reaction and the audience can get a good look at your cover. Keep in mind how it will look on the different social media platforms you’ll end up posting it on, though, as they won’t all optimize for the same dimensions. The easiest way to accommodate both rectangular and square dimensions is to film horizontally and make sure the action is centered in the frame so you can easily crop the edges, if needed.
To record a steady and well-framed video, you can either use a tripod to keep your camera absolutely stationary (or even just prop it up against something sturdy) or have a friend or family member film you. Just be sure to share this article with your cameraperson so they know what they’re aiming for!
Here’s a recent post we shared on Instagram from FriesenPress author M.K. Wood whose partner held the camera and naturally participated in the unboxing, adding another special layer to the experience:
Click the image to view FriesenPress Author M.K. Wood’s book unboxing video!
The Shoot
Now that you’ve decided on (and gathered up) everything you need, it’s time to record your unboxing video. Before you get started take a moment to reflect and figure out what you’d like to say. Once you open that box the authenticity and genuine emotion will pass with that initial moment—it can’t be recreated. All you have to remember is not to over complicate things, be yourself, and bask in your great accomplishment.
Speaking of opening the box: the printer may use recycled extras (such as unused or misprinted pages) from others' books to pad the shipping container. This is one way our printers work toward recycling and sustainability initiatives. While unboxing, simply set this material aside and add it to your own recycling later.
Here are a few things you’ll want to cover in your video:
A preamble with a bit of a backstory about your book and publishing journey. Consider how long you’ve been working for this moment, what publishing this book means to you, and the people who helped you make it possible.
Finally, really take your time with savouring the moment when you open your book for the first time and describe how you feel.
For bonus points, you can also add a brief call-to-action at the end of your unboxing video to let people know when your book will be released, where it can be purchased, and provide your website URL for readers to get more information.
That might sound like a lot, but a quick point or two for each piece will keep it brief and on track. Your video should only be a few minutes long and you don’t want to wait too long to start the actual unboxing because your viewers are there for the big moment when you open that box and see your book. Make your viewers wait too long and you could lose their attention. Here’s an unboxing video from another FriesenPress author—L.K. Elliott—that’s a great example of a concise video that sets the stage with relevant preamble before diving right into her reaction to seeing her book for the first time:
The Post
With all the raw footage together, you may wish to do some editing to polish the finished product before you post. If you recorded using a smartphone, you’ll be able to make simple edits like directly cropping the image or trimming the video length using the editing software that’s pre-loaded on your phone. If you want more features and control for a slightly more elaborate production, you can explore free desktop software like Apple iMovie, Movie Maker 10, or Openshot (to name a few).
By this point, you’ve done all the hard work of creating your exciting and heartwarming unboxing video. Now it’s time to get it out there for the world to see. YouTube and Instagram are made for sharing such visual content, but you can still find good use for your unboxing video on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond.
Here are a few things to consider when drafting your social media posts:
Be sure your descriptions follow your video call-to-action.
The description (or “copy”) of the post should have all the important links clearly labelled for where viewers can buy your book, a link to your website, and anything else you mentioned.
Leverage the power of hashtags in your post(s).
For those unfamiliar, hashtags (#) are used in combination with a keyword on social media posts to indicate that you're commenting on a specific topic. By deploying the proper hashtags in your posts, you can tap into pre-existing communities that are relevant to your author brand and the book’s subject matter. This added exposure can help increase the reach and engagement of posts like your unboxing video.
Searching certain hashtags on your preferred social media platform (like Twitter or Instagram) will show you how many people are using it and how relevant it is. For instance, searching #unboxingvideo on Twitter or Instagram will show you the engagement of popular tweets under that hashtag, and how often it’s used.
Tag your publishing team and/or publishing partner.
Those who were a part of producing your book will want to celebrate your successes. To tag them in your post, type the @ symbol followed by their profile name (@friesenpress, for example). This will notify your publishing partner and could lead to them sharing it with their audiences, too.
When an author tags us in their unboxing posts on social media, we love the opportunity to promote their achievements and have them benefit from our thousands of like-minded and engaged followers.
Unboxing videos present a unique, one-time opportunity to capture your sincere reaction to something that could easily have been years in the making. By sharing the experience, you can leverage the still-growing unboxing phenomenon. And who knows – if you’re a FriesenPress author, one day you might get included in our year-end unboxing video wrap-up!
A great unboxing video can most certainly be a useful tool in promoting your book by connecting you with readers on a personal level, but it’s also an important milestone you can share with friends and family, and revisit over and over again. When it comes down to it, aren’t moments like these what writing and publishing is all about?
