Rader, 69, who called himself BTK (for the way he murdered his victims – "bind, torture, kill"), sent a four-page, handwritten letter filled with grammatical errors and misspelled words to the Wichita Eagle under the heading, "From the Desk of Dennis L. Rader."
"I can never replace their love ones, my deeds too 'dark' to understand; the book or movies etc. is the only way to help them," he wrote.
Rader, who is currently serving 10 life sentences in a Kansas prison, is working with Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, on the book. She insists it won't sensationalize Rader's horrific crimes.
"I'm trying to make this a serious effort that will have some benefit for people who study this kind of crime," she told the paper.
Ramsland was picked for the job by a group of Rader's victims' families, who were granted his media rights in 2005 in a bid to prevent him from ever profiting from his crimes. "Their position is that they want [the book] to be done and over with, so they can put the matter behind them once and for all," the group's attorney, James Thompson, tells PEOPLE.
Rader says his book could offer insight into the workings of serial killers' brains. "People like me, need to be understood, so the criminal professional field can better under stand the criminal mind," he writes. "That would be my way of helping debt to society."
Rader's daughter Kerri made headlines last week for criticizing author Stephen King, whose latest movie, The Good Marriage, is loosely based on the BTK case. The horror author is "exploiting my father's 10 victims and their families," she said.
The Good Marriage revolves around what happens when a wife discovers her husband is actually a serial killer. Rader, who claims to be a fan of King's books, insists his wife and family had no idea about his secret life as a murderer.
"The family knew nothing about my 'Dark Deeds.' I carried that secret until the day I was arrested," he writes.
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