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My strictest rule is that it should be something in a different genre to the book I just read. Even this one can be waived if, for instance, it's an omnibus and I've borrowed it from the library, so have a deadline.
After that I will consider my various challenges and ongoing series. The ones with more to do in less time tend to take priority, but I try to keep everything moving, and sometimes it's easy to throw in a quicker read from something less pressing. There's no real deadline on my Agatha Christie read-through, for instance, but they barely take any time to read, usually, and there are a lot of them, so I aim for one a month.
I will also take format into account. For my purposes, there are basically three formats: Kindle, ePub and paper; and which one I am in the mood for varies. Sometimes I want to get rid of some of my old unread paper books, but on the other hand I don't want to travel with a paper book. And kindle/epub depends on which reader I want to use - if I feel I've been neglecting one of them I'm more likely to give it a run out - and whether any of them is "blocked" by being in the middle of something. Right now I'm reading a non-fiction collection on my kindle, so I won't use it for my next novel, but I'm also away visiting family overnight this weekend, so I won't start a paperback, which leaves me with ePubs on my Nook or Kobo. This is a more limited selection than my kindle since I've never taken my kindle books through calibre, which tends to make it an easier choice.
Finally, sometimes I just want to read some particular book.
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