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A cell phone novel, or mobile phone novel (Japanese: 携帯小説, keitai shousetsu; traditional Chinese: 手機小說, shŏujī xiǎoshuō), is a literary work originally written on a cellular phone via text messaging. This type of literature originated in Japan, where it has become a popular literary genre. However, its popularity has also spread to other countries internationally, especially to China, Germany, and South Africa. Chapters usually consist of about 70-100 words each due to character limitations on cell phones.

Phone novels started out primarily read and authored by young women on the subject of romantic fiction such as relationships, lovers, rape, love triangles, and pregnancy. However, mobile phone novels are gaining worldwide popularity on broader subjects. Rather than appearing in printed form, the literature is typically sent directly to the reader via SMS text message, chapter by chapter. Japanese ethos of the Internet regarding mobile phone novels are dominated by false names and forged identities. Therefore, identities of the Japanese authors of mobile phone novels are rarely disclosed.

Cell phone novels are downloaded in short installments and run on handsets as Java-based applications on a mobile phone. Cell phone novels often appear in three different formats: WMLD, JAVA and TXT. Maho i-Land is the largest cell phone novel site that carries more than a million titles, mainly novice writers, all which are available for free. Maho iLand provides templates for blogs and homepages. It is visited 3.5 billion times each month. In 2007, 98 cell phone novels were published into books. “Love Sky,” a popular phone novel written by “Mika” with approximately 12 million views online, has been turned into a movie. Five out of the ten best selling novels in Japan in 2007 were originally cell phone novels.