diff --git a/frappe/patches/v13_0/set_read_times.py b/frappe/patches/v13_0/set_read_times.py
index ce16acc602..6957139372 100644
--- a/frappe/patches/v13_0/set_read_times.py
+++ b/frappe/patches/v13_0/set_read_times.py
@@ -14,5 +14,5 @@ def get_read_time(blog):
 	if blog.content_type == "Markdown":
 		content = markdown(blog.content_md)
 
-	total_words = len(strip_html_tags(content).split())
+	total_words = len(strip_html_tags(content or "").split())
 	return ceil(total_words/250)
\ No newline at end of file