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I'll say that part of the solution to encouraging reading is to have an atmosphere where reading is common and encouraged.
My parents and most of my extended family read a lot and as such, reading was considered a normal part of life, something everyone did. With most being professionals, with collage degrees, and having grown up near a University campus, Reading was one of the price sources of getting information and entertainment, especially as they were never very well off.
The fact the we kids were reading a few years ahead of our year group was not really considered any thing extraordinary, with all of us having access to quiet advanced books, and with adults more then willing to explain difficult concepts.
Having said that, getting someone into reading, especially if they have not been that interested in reading in the past is a bit of a uphill task especially with all the other alternatives available (I plead guilty to spending more time online then reading nowadays).
If they are interested in SF or fantasy, it may be a little easier as there are a ton of books and authors extending existing universes and creating new ones. Easier to start them off with novelization of TV series if they are intrested, and slowly work through them to other worked by those authors, and hopefully to other great books in the genre.
Another suggestion already mentioned above is to get them interested in the Fanfiction community. There are with some great authors there, and some well written stores longer the Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series!! , there is a ton of material.
I admit to being some what addicted to Fanfiction, especially that related to some Anime Series and Harry Potter (Even though I could not stand the last 2 books in the series). Along with my books, I've got a nice stash of my favourite Fanfiction stories on my reader, mainly the long and really well written ones I enjoy rereading once in a while. Some of the story's , the crossovers have gotten me interested in reading new authors or watching new series, so its a good way to get them interested.
Another option, especially if they enjoyed Movie adoptions of Novels is to convince them to read the original books. I was finally able to get through the Lord of the Rings series, after years of failure after watching the first movie, as I really wanted to know more about the characters and what happened to them.
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