Publisher Random House said on Monday it was "thrilled" to sign Dunham's collection of essays entitled "Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned", but declined to comment on financial details.

The New York Times, citing unnamed publishing sources, said Random House paid more than $3.5 million for the 26-year-old's first book after a fierce bidding war.

Random House Editor-in-Chief Susan Kamil described Dunham in a statement as "fresh, wise, so assured. She is that rare literary talent that will only grow from strength, to strength and we look forward to helping her build a long career as an author."

According to a description from the publishing company, Dunham's book will "offer frank and funny advice on everything from sex to eating to traveling to work," and is expected to follow in the footsteps of late filmmaker and author Nora Ephron and former Cosmopolitan magazine Editor-in-Chief Helen Gurley Brown.

Dunham, who broke out as a actor-writer-director with her debut film "Tiny Furniture" in 2010, has become a rising star with her raunchy television series "Girls", which got four Emmy Award nominations earlier this year.

Random House is a unit of European media group Bertlesmann. (Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy in Los Angeles, editing by Jill Serjeant and Richard Chang)

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